diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/RunTask.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/RunTask.groovy
index f045c95740ba6..a71dc59dbf914 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/RunTask.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/RunTask.groovy
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ public class RunTask extends DefaultTask {
         clusterConfig.httpPort = 9200
         clusterConfig.transportPort = 9300
         clusterConfig.daemonize = false
+        clusterConfig.distribution = 'zip'
         project.afterEvaluate {
             ClusterFormationTasks.setup(project, this, clusterConfig)
         }
diff --git a/modules/build.gradle b/modules/build.gradle
index d5b207625c1a7..b3dbde24936e9 100644
--- a/modules/build.gradle
+++ b/modules/build.gradle
@@ -25,6 +25,11 @@ subprojects {
     // for local ES plugins, the name of the plugin is the same as the directory
     name project.name
   }
+  
+  run {
+    // these cannot be run with the normal distribution, since they are included in it!
+    distribution = 'integ-test-zip'
+  }
 
   if (project.file('src/main/packaging').exists()) {
     throw new InvalidModelException("Modules cannot contain packaging files")