diff --git a/ansible/group_vars/all.yml b/ansible/group_vars/all.yml
index 72237f4373..b774444c31 100644
--- a/ansible/group_vars/all.yml
+++ b/ansible/group_vars/all.yml
@@ -56,7 +56,9 @@ virtual_machines:
     arch: ppc64le
     ssh_key_file: "~/.ssh/acs-ppc64le-rsa.prv"
     images:
-      - rhel-88-05102023
+      - rhel-96-04282025
+      - rhel-10-04252025
+    container_engine: podman
 
   rhel-sap:
     project: rhel-sap-cloud
diff --git a/ansible/roles/create-vm/tasks/create-ppc64le-vm.yml b/ansible/roles/create-vm/tasks/create-ppc64le-vm.yml
index abb755db07..c93c9997ad 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/create-vm/tasks/create-ppc64le-vm.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/create-vm/tasks/create-ppc64le-vm.yml
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@
       - job_id_{{ job_id }}
       - platform_{{ test_platform }}
       - vm_arch_ppc64le
+      - container_engine_{{ container_engine }}
     ansible_ssh_extra_args: -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no
     ansible_ssh_private_key_file: "{{ vm_ssh_key_file }}"
     vm_config: "{{ vm_config }}"
diff --git a/ansible/roles/run-test-target/tasks/pull-images.yml b/ansible/roles/run-test-target/tasks/pull-images.yml
index fe0b744eda..71a59d2136 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/run-test-target/tasks/pull-images.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/run-test-target/tasks/pull-images.yml
@@ -12,7 +12,8 @@
   delegate_to: localhost
 
 - name: Pull QA images
-  command: "{{ 'sudo' if runtime_as_root else '' }} {{ runtime_command }} pull {{ item.value }}-{{ qa_tag }}"
+  become: "{{ runtime_as_root }}"
+  command: "{{ runtime_command }} pull {{ item.value }}-{{ qa_tag }}"
   loop: "{{ images.qa | dict2items }}"
   # parallel for speeeeed
   async: 300
@@ -21,7 +22,8 @@
   ignore_errors: true
 
 - name: Pull non-QA images
-  command: "{{ 'sudo' if runtime_as_root else '' }} {{ runtime_command }} pull {{ item.value }}"
+  become: "{{ runtime_as_root }}"
+  command: "{{ runtime_command }} pull {{ item.value }}"
   loop: "{{ images.non_qa | dict2items }}"
   # parallel for speeeeed
   async: 300
diff --git a/ansible/roles/run-test-target/tasks/test-docker.yml b/ansible/roles/run-test-target/tasks/test-docker.yml
index 7b6d7a9c85..0037974a9c 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/run-test-target/tasks/test-docker.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/run-test-target/tasks/test-docker.yml
@@ -54,10 +54,16 @@
   become: "{{ runtime_as_root }}"
   shell:
     cmd: |
-      if [[ -f "/run/containers/0/auth.json" ]]; then
         mkdir -p ~/.docker/
-        cp "/run/containers/0/auth.json" ~/.docker/config.json
-      fi
+        if [[ -f "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-}/containers/auth.json" ]]; then
+            AUTH_FILE="${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-}/containers/auth.json"
+        elif [[ -f "/run/containers/0/auth.json" ]]; then
+            AUTH_FILE="/run/containers/0/auth.json"
+        else
+            echo >&2 "No valid auth.json file found"
+            exit 1
+        fi
+        cp "${AUTH_FILE}" ~/.docker/config.json
     creates: ~/.docker/config.json
   when: runtime_command == "podman"
 
diff --git a/ansible/vars/ppc64le.yml b/ansible/vars/ppc64le.yml
index 059fbbd309..498ff5580b 100644
--- a/ansible/vars/ppc64le.yml
+++ b/ansible/vars/ppc64le.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 
-#rhel-8.8-05102023
+# ppc64le VM configuration
 pi_name: "{{ vm_name }}"
 sys_type: s1022
 proc_type: shared