diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index d9cfd93bd77..6334d88b1bf 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -26,3 +26,6 @@ site/.docusaurus/
 site/node_modules/
 
 hack/tools/bin
+
+#vscode 
+.vscode/
diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 100b659f47e..a00a734892c 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -212,7 +212,7 @@ require (
 	k8s.io/apiserver v0.29.3 // indirect
 	k8s.io/component-base v0.29.3 // indirect
 	k8s.io/cri-api v0.29.2 // indirect
-	oras.land/oras-go v1.2.4 // indirect
+	oras.land/oras-go v1.2.5 // indirect
 	sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/api v0.14.0 // indirect
 	sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/kyaml v0.14.3 // indirect
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index dc2e4ad00a9..4f3a16c4337 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1121,8 +1121,8 @@ k8s.io/kubectl v0.29.3 h1:RuwyyIU42MAISRIePaa8Q7A3U74Q9P4MoJbDFz9o3us=
 k8s.io/kubectl v0.29.3/go.mod h1:yCxfY1dbwgVdEt2zkJ6d5NNLOhhWgTyrqACIoFhpdd4=
 k8s.io/utils v0.0.0-20231127182322-b307cd553661 h1:FepOBzJ0GXm8t0su67ln2wAZjbQ6RxQGZDnzuLcrUTI=
 k8s.io/utils v0.0.0-20231127182322-b307cd553661/go.mod h1:OLgZIPagt7ERELqWJFomSt595RzquPNLL48iOWgYOg0=
-oras.land/oras-go v1.2.4 h1:djpBY2/2Cs1PV87GSJlxv4voajVOMZxqqtq9AB8YNvY=
-oras.land/oras-go v1.2.4/go.mod h1:DYcGfb3YF1nKjcezfX2SNlDAeQFKSXmf+qrFmrh4324=
+oras.land/oras-go v1.2.5 h1:XpYuAwAb0DfQsunIyMfeET92emK8km3W4yEzZvUbsTo=
+oras.land/oras-go v1.2.5/go.mod h1:PuAwRShRZCsZb7g8Ar3jKKQR/2A/qN+pkYxIOd/FAoo=
 sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime v0.13.1-0.20230315234915-a26de2d610c3 h1:fic0YtUGSr79nv8vn3ziNZJrPZsm64KT/Fd/bc7Q6xY=
 sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime v0.13.1-0.20230315234915-a26de2d610c3/go.mod h1:Qox07m8Gh7skSeOfppEWllPxNMhA7+b93D8Qjj6rBlQ=
 sigs.k8s.io/json v0.0.0-20221116044647-bc3834ca7abd h1:EDPBXCAspyGV4jQlpZSudPeMmr1bNJefnuqLsRAsHZo=
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/azure/create-cluster-with-npm.go b/test/e2e/framework/azure/create-cluster-with-npm.go
index 4c2c62609d8..709ed3bfb11 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/azure/create-cluster-with-npm.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/azure/create-cluster-with-npm.go
@@ -18,9 +18,11 @@ var (
 )
 
 const (
-	clusterTimeout    = 10 * time.Minute
-	AgentARMSKU       = "Standard_D4pls_v5"
-	AuxilaryNodeCount = 1
+	clusterTimeout      = 10 * time.Minute
+	clusterCreateTicker = 30 * time.Second
+	pollFrequency       = 5 * time.Second
+	AgentARMSKU         = "Standard_D4pls_v5"
+	AuxilaryNodeCount   = 1
 )
 
 type CreateNPMCluster struct {
@@ -49,7 +51,8 @@ func (c *CreateNPMCluster) Run() error {
 
 	npmCluster.Properties.NetworkProfile.NetworkPolicy = to.Ptr(armcontainerservice.NetworkPolicyAzure)
 
-	npmCluster.Properties.AgentPoolProfiles = append(npmCluster.Properties.AgentPoolProfiles, &armcontainerservice.ManagedClusterAgentPoolProfile{
+	//nolint:appendCombine // separate for verbosity
+	npmCluster.Properties.AgentPoolProfiles = append(npmCluster.Properties.AgentPoolProfiles, &armcontainerservice.ManagedClusterAgentPoolProfile{ //nolint:all
 		Type:               to.Ptr(armcontainerservice.AgentPoolTypeVirtualMachineScaleSets),
 		AvailabilityZones:  []*string{to.Ptr("1")},
 		Count:              to.Ptr[int32](AuxilaryNodeCount),
@@ -64,6 +67,7 @@ func (c *CreateNPMCluster) Run() error {
 	})
 
 	/* todo: add azlinux node pool
+	//nolint:appendCombine // separate for verbosity
 	npmCluster.Properties.AgentPoolProfiles = append(npmCluster.Properties.AgentPoolProfiles, &armcontainerservice.ManagedClusterAgentPoolProfile{
 		Type:               to.Ptr(armcontainerservice.AgentPoolTypeVirtualMachineScaleSets),
 		AvailabilityZones:  []*string{to.Ptr("1")},
@@ -78,7 +82,8 @@ func (c *CreateNPMCluster) Run() error {
 		MaxPods:            to.Ptr(int32(azure.MaxPodsPerNode)),
 	})
 	*/
-	npmCluster.Properties.AgentPoolProfiles = append(npmCluster.Properties.AgentPoolProfiles, &armcontainerservice.ManagedClusterAgentPoolProfile{
+	//nolint:appendCombine // separate for verbosity
+	npmCluster.Properties.AgentPoolProfiles = append(npmCluster.Properties.AgentPoolProfiles, &armcontainerservice.ManagedClusterAgentPoolProfile{ //nolint:all
 		Type:               to.Ptr(armcontainerservice.AgentPoolTypeVirtualMachineScaleSets),
 		AvailabilityZones:  []*string{to.Ptr("1")},
 		Count:              to.Ptr[int32](AuxilaryNodeCount),
@@ -116,7 +121,7 @@ func (c *CreateNPMCluster) Run() error {
 	notifychan := make(chan struct{})
 	go func() {
 		_, err = poller.PollUntilDone(ctx, &runtime.PollUntilDoneOptions{
-			Frequency: 5 * time.Second,
+			Frequency: pollFrequency,
 		})
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Printf("failed to create cluster: %v\n", err)
@@ -126,7 +131,7 @@ func (c *CreateNPMCluster) Run() error {
 		close(notifychan)
 	}()
 
-	ticker := time.NewTicker(30 * time.Second)
+	ticker := time.NewTicker(clusterCreateTicker)
 	defer ticker.Stop()
 	for {
 		select {
@@ -135,7 +140,7 @@ func (c *CreateNPMCluster) Run() error {
 		case <-ticker.C:
 			log.Printf("waiting for cluster %s to be ready...\n", c.ClusterName)
 		case <-notifychan:
-			return err
+			return fmt.Errorf("received notification, failed to create cluster: %w", err)
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/generic/load-tag.go b/test/e2e/framework/generic/load-tag.go
index b5ee7652c31..d3131c2829d 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/generic/load-tag.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/generic/load-tag.go
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ import (
 
 const DefaultTagEnv = "TAG"
 
+var ErrTagNotSet = fmt.Errorf("tag not set")
+
 type LoadTag struct {
 	TagEnv string
 }
@@ -32,9 +34,8 @@ func (s *LoadTag) Prevalidate() error {
 			log.Printf("using version \"%s\" from flag", tag)
 			os.Setenv(s.TagEnv, tag)
 			return nil
-		} else {
-			return fmt.Errorf("tag is not set from flag nor env %s", s.TagEnv)
 		}
+		return fmt.Errorf("tag is not set from flag nor env %s: %w", s.TagEnv, ErrTagNotSet)
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/kubernetes/get-logs.go b/test/e2e/framework/kubernetes/get-logs.go
index 677eeb513bb..761a8922290 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/kubernetes/get-logs.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/kubernetes/get-logs.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd"
 )
 
-func PrintPodLogs(kubeconfigpath string, namespace string, labelSelector string) {
+func PrintPodLogs(kubeconfigpath, namespace string, labelSelector string) {
 	// Load the kubeconfig file to get the configuration to access the cluster
 	config, err := clientcmd.BuildConfigFromFlags("", kubeconfigpath)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -34,7 +34,8 @@ func PrintPodLogs(kubeconfigpath string, namespace string, labelSelector string)
 	}
 
 	// Iterate over the pods and get the logs for each pod
-	for _, pod := range pods.Items {
+	for i := range pods.Items {
+		pod := pods.Items[i]
 		fmt.Printf("############################## logs for pod %s #########################\n", pod.Name)
 
 		// Get the logs for the pod
@@ -43,7 +44,6 @@ func PrintPodLogs(kubeconfigpath string, namespace string, labelSelector string)
 		if err != nil {
 			fmt.Printf("error getting logs for pod %s: %s\n", pod.Name, err)
 		}
-		defer podLogs.Close()
 
 		// Read the logs
 		buf, err := io.ReadAll(podLogs)
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ func PrintPodLogs(kubeconfigpath string, namespace string, labelSelector string)
 			log.Printf("error reading logs for pod %s: %s\n", pod.Name, err)
 		}
 
+		podLogs.Close()
+
 		// Print the logs
 		log.Println(string(buf))
 	}
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/kubernetes/install-retina-helm.go b/test/e2e/framework/kubernetes/install-retina-helm.go
index 93798386dd1..70e74e65261 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/kubernetes/install-retina-helm.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/kubernetes/install-retina-helm.go
@@ -17,7 +17,10 @@ const (
 	deleteTimeout = 60 * time.Second
 )
 
-var errEmptyTag = fmt.Errorf("tag is empty")
+var (
+	errEmptyTag          = fmt.Errorf("tag is empty")
+	errDirectoryNotFound = fmt.Errorf("directory not found")
+)
 
 type InstallHelmChart struct {
 	Namespace          string
@@ -99,8 +102,8 @@ func (i *InstallHelmChart) Prevalidate() error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to get current working directory %s: %w", cwd, err)
 		}
-		fmt.Printf("the current working directory %s", cwd)
-		return fmt.Errorf("directory not found at %s:  working directory: %s", i.ChartPath, cwd)
+		log.Printf("the current working directory %s", cwd)
+		return fmt.Errorf("directory not found at %s:  working directory: %s: %w", i.ChartPath, cwd, errDirectoryNotFound)
 	}
 	log.Printf("found chart at %s", i.ChartPath)
 
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/prometheus/prometheus.go b/test/e2e/framework/prometheus/prometheus.go
index 645ec2cd8f3..603f0d96acd 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/prometheus/prometheus.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/prometheus/prometheus.go
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ var (
 	defaultRetryAttempts = 60
 )
 
-func CheckMetric(promAddress string, metricName string, validMetric map[string]string) error {
+func CheckMetric(promAddress, metricName string, validMetric map[string]string) error {
 	defaultRetrier := retry.Retrier{Attempts: defaultRetryAttempts, Delay: defaultRetryDelay}
 
 	ctx := context.Background()
diff --git a/test/retry/retry.go b/test/retry/retry.go
index 7b46f9266e8..72a6b3f43c0 100644
--- a/test/retry/retry.go
+++ b/test/retry/retry.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package retry
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"fmt"
 	"time"
 )
 
@@ -32,7 +33,11 @@ func (r Retrier) Do(ctx context.Context, f func() error) error {
 
 	select {
 	case <-ctx.Done():
-		return ctx.Err()
+		ctxErr := ctx.Err()
+		if ctxErr != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("context error: %w", ctxErr)
+		}
+		return nil
 	case <-done:
 		return err
 	}