diff --git a/test/network/wireserver_metadata_test.sh b/test/network/wireserver_metadata_test.sh
index dec5ee4a7c..015e589c8c 100644
--- a/test/network/wireserver_metadata_test.sh
+++ b/test/network/wireserver_metadata_test.sh
@@ -1,23 +1,29 @@
 #!/bin/bash
-# Optional per-pool parameterization: when POOL is set the throwaway pods are
-# named "wget-${POOL}" and pinned to that agent pool via nodeSelector, so this
-# test can run per-pool in parallel. When POOL is empty the behavior is
-# unchanged (pod name "wget", no node selector).
+# The two connectivity checks each run a throwaway busybox pod named
+# "${POD_NAME}-wireserver-${SUFFIX}" / "${POD_NAME}-metadata-${SUFFIX}", where
+# POD_NAME is "wget" (or "wget-${POOL}" when POOL is set) and SUFFIX is a random
+# value for uniqueness across retries. When POOL is set the pods are also pinned
+# to that agent pool. The pods always target Linux nodes (kubernetes.io/os=linux)
+# so the Linux busybox image is never scheduled onto a Windows node, where it
+# cannot be pulled/run and the check would time out.
 POOL="${POOL:-}"
 POD_NAME="wget"
-OVERRIDES=()
+NODE_SELECTOR='"kubernetes.io/os":"linux"'
 if [ -n "$POOL" ]; then
     POD_NAME="wget-${POOL}"
-    OVERRIDES=(--overrides="{\"spec\":{\"nodeSelector\":{\"agentpool\":\"${POOL}\"}}}")
+    NODE_SELECTOR="${NODE_SELECTOR},\"agentpool\":\"${POOL}\""
 fi
+OVERRIDES=(--overrides="{\"spec\":{\"nodeSelector\":{${NODE_SELECTOR}}}}")
 
-kubectl run "$POD_NAME" -it --rm --image busybox --restart Never "${OVERRIDES[@]}" -- wget --timeout=3 --header=Metadata:true "http://168.63.129.16/machine/plugins?comp=nmagent&type=getinterfaceinfov1"
+SUFFIX="${RANDOM}"
+
+kubectl run "$POD_NAME-wireserver-${SUFFIX}" -it --rm --image busybox --restart Never --pod-running-timeout=1m "${OVERRIDES[@]}" -- wget --timeout=3 --header=Metadata:true "http://168.63.129.16/machine/plugins?comp=nmagent&type=getinterfaceinfov1"
 if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
     echo "wireserver connectivity expected to fail but succeeded"
     exit 1
 fi
 
-kubectl run "$POD_NAME" -it --rm --image busybox --restart Never "${OVERRIDES[@]}" -- wget --timeout=3 --header=Metadata:true "http://169.254.169.254/metadata/instance?api-version=2021-02-01"
+kubectl run "$POD_NAME-metadata-${SUFFIX}" -it --rm --image busybox --restart Never --pod-running-timeout=1m "${OVERRIDES[@]}" -- wget --timeout=3 --header=Metadata:true "http://169.254.169.254/metadata/instance?api-version=2021-02-01"
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
     echo "metadata server connectivity expected to succeed but failed"
     exit 1