diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/backup/vtbackup/backup_only_test.go b/go/test/endtoend/backup/vtbackup/backup_only_test.go
index c7a09c70d13..3fa63e42cba 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/backup/vtbackup/backup_only_test.go
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/backup/vtbackup/backup_only_test.go
@@ -222,11 +222,8 @@ func verifyBackupCount(t *testing.T, shardKsName string, expected int) []string
 }
 
 func listBackups(shardKsName string) ([]string, error) {
-	backups, err := localCluster.VtctlProcess.ExecuteCommandWithOutput(
-		"--backup_storage_implementation", "file",
-		"--file_backup_storage_root",
-		path.Join(os.Getenv("VTDATAROOT"), "tmp", "backupstorage"),
-		"ListBackups", shardKsName,
+	backups, err := localCluster.VtctldClientProcess.ExecuteCommandWithOutput(
+		"GetBackups", shardKsName,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -246,10 +243,7 @@ func removeBackups(t *testing.T) {
 	backups, err := listBackups(shardKsName)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 	for _, backup := range backups {
-		_, err := localCluster.VtctlProcess.ExecuteCommandWithOutput(
-			"--backup_storage_implementation", "file",
-			"--file_backup_storage_root",
-			path.Join(os.Getenv("VTDATAROOT"), "tmp", "backupstorage"),
+		_, err := localCluster.VtctldClientProcess.ExecuteCommandWithOutput(
 			"RemoveBackup", shardKsName, backup,
 		)
 		require.NoError(t, err)
diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/backup/vtbackup/main_test.go b/go/test/endtoend/backup/vtbackup/main_test.go
index 6e1840b2979..54003416776 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/backup/vtbackup/main_test.go
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/backup/vtbackup/main_test.go
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ func TestMain(m *testing.M) {
 			},
 		}
 		shard := &localCluster.Keyspaces[0].Shards[0]
-		vtctldClientProcess := cluster.VtctldClientProcessInstance("localhost", localCluster.VtctldProcess.GrpcPort, localCluster.TmpDirectory)
+		vtctldClientProcess := cluster.VtctldClientProcessInstance(localCluster.VtctldProcess.GrpcPort, localCluster.TopoPort, "localhost", localCluster.TmpDirectory)
 		_, err = vtctldClientProcess.ExecuteCommandWithOutput("CreateKeyspace", keyspaceName, "--durability-policy=semi_sync")
 		if err != nil {
 			return 1, err
diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/cluster/cluster_process.go b/go/test/endtoend/cluster/cluster_process.go
index 8cd04ab86da..dc816c15197 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/cluster/cluster_process.go
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/cluster/cluster_process.go
@@ -257,6 +257,15 @@ func (cluster *LocalProcessCluster) StartTopo() (err error) {
 	}
 
 	cluster.VtctldClientProcess = *cluster.NewVtctldClientProcessInstance("localhost", cluster.VtctldProcess.GrpcPort, cluster.TmpDirectory)
+	if !cluster.ReusingVTDATAROOT {
+		if err = cluster.VtctldClientProcess.AddCellInfo(cluster.Cell); err != nil {
+			log.Error(err)
+			time.Sleep(5 * time.Minute)
+			return
+		}
+		cluster.VtctldClientProcess.LogDir = cluster.TmpDirectory
+	}
+
 	return
 }
 
@@ -1294,7 +1303,7 @@ func (cluster *LocalProcessCluster) NewVTOrcProcess(config VTOrcConfiguration) *
 // VtctldClientProcessInstance returns a VtctldProcess handle for vtctldclient process
 // configured with the given Config.
 func (cluster *LocalProcessCluster) NewVtctldClientProcessInstance(hostname string, grpcPort int, tmpDirectory string) *VtctldClientProcess {
-	version, err := GetMajorVersion("vtctld") // `vtctldclient` does not have a --version flag, so we assume both vtctl/vtctldclient have the same version
+	version, err := GetMajorVersion("vtctldclient")
 	if err != nil {
 		log.Warningf("failed to get major vtctldclient version; interop with CLI changes for VEP-4 may not work: %s", err)
 	}
diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/cluster/vtctldclient_process.go b/go/test/endtoend/cluster/vtctldclient_process.go
index a87f9636adf..4d098114bb4 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/cluster/vtctldclient_process.go
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/cluster/vtctldclient_process.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package cluster
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os/exec"
+	"slices"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -80,7 +81,10 @@ func (vtctldclient *VtctldClientProcess) ExecuteCommandWithOutput(args ...string
 	var err error
 	retries := 10
 	retryDelay := 1 * time.Second
-	pArgs := []string{"--server", vtctldclient.Server}
+	var pArgs []string
+	if !slices.Contains(args, "--server") {
+		args = append(args, "--server", vtctldclient.Server)
+	}
 	if *isCoverage {
 		pArgs = append(pArgs, "--test.coverprofile="+getCoveragePath("vtctldclient-"+args[0]+".out"), "--test.v")
 	}
@@ -108,9 +112,12 @@ func (vtctldclient *VtctldClientProcess) ExecuteCommandWithOutput(args ...string
 func (vtctldclient *VtctldClientProcess) AddCellInfo(Cell string) error {
 	args := []string{
 		"--server", "internal",
-		"AddCellInfo", "--",
+		"--topo-implementation", vtctldclient.TopoImplementation,
+		"--topo-global-server-address", vtctldclient.TopoGlobalAddress,
+		"--topo-global-root", vtctldclient.TopoGlobalRoot,
+		"AddCellInfo",
 		"--root", vtctldclient.TopoRootPath + Cell,
-		"--server_address", vtctldclient.TopoServerAddress,
+		"--server-address", vtctldclient.TopoServerAddress,
 		Cell,
 	}
 	_, err := vtctldclient.ExecuteCommandWithOutput(args...)
diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/cluster_test.go b/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/cluster_test.go
index c52db9bdc38..b242fbd2e9a 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/cluster_test.go
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/vreplication/cluster_test.go
@@ -398,6 +398,12 @@ func (vc *VitessCluster) setupVtctld() {
 func (vc *VitessCluster) setupVtctldClient() {
 	vc.VtctldClient = cluster.VtctldClientProcessInstance(vc.Vtctld.GrpcPort, mainClusterConfig.topoPort, vc.ClusterConfig.hostname, vc.ClusterConfig.tmpDir)
 	require.NotNil(vc.t, vc.VtctldClient)
+	for _, cellName := range vc.CellNames {
+		vc.VtctldClient.AddCellInfo(cellName)
+		cell, err := vc.AddCell(vc.t, cellName)
+		require.NoError(vc.t, err)
+		require.NotNil(vc.t, cell)
+	}
 }
 
 // CleanupDataroot deletes the vtdataroot directory. Since we run multiple tests sequentially in a single CI test shard,