diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr-workflow.yaml b/.github/workflows/pr-workflow.yaml
index 5a6c99eec..a3c9332cb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr-workflow.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr-workflow.yaml
@@ -52,12 +52,9 @@ jobs:
       uses: actions/setup-go@v5
       with:
         go-version-file: 'go.mod'
-    - name: Free disk space
-      # The micro-VM guest image/kernel + cloud-hypervisor + kind node image +
-      # control-plane images + snapshots are tight on the ~14GB runner disk.
-      run: |
-        sudo rm -rf /usr/share/dotnet /usr/local/lib/android /opt/ghc /opt/hostedtoolcache/CodeQL
-        df -h /
+    - name: Check disk space
+      # Current runners have enough space; deleting preinstalled SDKs costs ~22s.
+      run: df -h /
     - name: Cache micro-VM assets
       id: microvm-assets
       uses: actions/cache@v4
diff --git a/hack/run-e2e-kind.sh b/hack/run-e2e-kind.sh
index d201a133a..4eaf49f68 100755
--- a/hack/run-e2e-kind.sh
+++ b/hack/run-e2e-kind.sh
@@ -19,6 +19,11 @@ set -o errexit -o nounset -o pipefail
 ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
 cd "${ROOT}"
 
+# Build only for the Kind node's host architecture, not every .ko.yaml platform.
+# shellcheck disable=SC2155 # safe initialization
+goarch=$(go env GOARCH)
+export KO_DEFAULTPLATFORMS="linux/${goarch}"
+
 # Runs the E2E tests against a local Kind cluster.
 #
 # This wraps hack/run-e2e.sh with the same Kind-specific environment that