diff --git a/pkg/addons/addons.go b/pkg/addons/addons.go
index 9a7008375b..74a2028a54 100644
--- a/pkg/addons/addons.go
+++ b/pkg/addons/addons.go
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"fmt"
-	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path"
@@ -53,6 +52,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/storageclass"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/style"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/sysinit"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/util"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/util/retry"
 )
 
@@ -514,7 +514,7 @@ func enableOrDisableGCPAuth(cfg *config.ClusterConfig, name string, val string)
 }
 
 func enableAddonGCPAuth(cfg *config.ClusterConfig) error {
-	if !Force && isGCE() {
+	if !Force && util.IsOnGCE() {
 		exit.Message(reason.InternalCredsNotFound, "It seems that you are running in GCE, which means authentication should work without the GCP Auth addon. If you would still like to authenticate using a credentials file, use the --force flag.")
 	}
 
@@ -587,16 +587,3 @@ func disableAddonGCPAuth(cfg *config.ClusterConfig) error {
 
 	return nil
 }
-
-func isGCE() bool {
-	resp, err := http.Get("http://metadata.google.internal")
-	if err != nil {
-		return false
-	}
-
-	if resp.Header.Get("Metadata-Flavor") == "Google" {
-		return true
-	}
-
-	return false
-}
diff --git a/pkg/util/utils.go b/pkg/util/utils.go
index f5fe5a3b22..de32aa4da8 100644
--- a/pkg/util/utils.go
+++ b/pkg/util/utils.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package util
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"os/user"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -109,3 +110,17 @@ func MaybeChownDirRecursiveToMinikubeUser(dir string) error {
 func ParseKubernetesVersion(version string) (semver.Version, error) {
 	return semver.Make(version[1:])
 }
+
+// IsOnGCE determines whether minikube is currently running on GCE.
+func IsOnGCE() bool {
+	resp, err := http.Get("http://metadata.google.internal")
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	if resp.Header.Get("Metadata-Flavor") == "Google" {
+		return true
+	}
+
+	return false
+}
diff --git a/test/integration/addons_test.go b/test/integration/addons_test.go
index 88e597226f..ccdf50d195 100644
--- a/test/integration/addons_test.go
+++ b/test/integration/addons_test.go
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/go-retryablehttp"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/kapi"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/util"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/util/retry"
 )
 
@@ -58,18 +59,43 @@ func TestAddons(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("Failed setting GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT env var: %v", err)
 	}
 
-	args := append([]string{"start", "-p", profile, "--wait=true", "--memory=4000", "--alsologtostderr", "--force", "--addons=registry", "--addons=metrics-server", "--addons=olm", "--addons=volumesnapshots", "--addons=csi-hostpath-driver", "--addons=gcp-auth"}, StartArgs()...)
+	args := append([]string{"start", "-p", profile, "--wait=true", "--memory=4000", "--alsologtostderr", "--addons=registry", "--addons=metrics-server", "--addons=olm", "--addons=volumesnapshots", "--addons=csi-hostpath-driver"}, StartArgs()...)
 	if !(runtime.GOOS == "darwin" && KicDriver()) { // macos docker driver does not support ingress
 		args = append(args, "--addons=ingress")
 	}
 	if !arm64Platform() {
 		args = append(args, "--addons=helm-tiller")
 	}
+	if !util.IsOnGCE() {
+		args = append(args, "--addons=gcp-auth")
+	}
 	rr, err := Run(t, exec.CommandContext(ctx, Target(), args...))
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("%s failed: %v", rr.Command(), err)
 	}
 
+	// If we're running the integration tests on GCE, which is frequently the case, first check to make sure we exit out properly,
+	// then use force to actually test using creds.
+	if util.IsOnGCE() {
+		args = append([]string{"addons", "enable", "gcp-auth"})
+		rr, err := Run(t, exec.CommandContext(ctx, Target(), args...))
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Errorf("Expected error but didn't get one. command %v, output %v", rr.Command(), rr.Output())
+		} else {
+			if !strings.Contains(rr.Output(), "It seems that you are running in GCE") {
+				t.Errorf("Unexpected error message: %v", rr.Output())
+			} else {
+				// ok, use force here since we are in GCE
+				// do not use --force unless absolutely necessary
+				args = append(args, "--force")
+				rr, err := Run(t, exec.CommandContext(ctx, Target(), args...))
+				if err != nil {
+					t.Errorf("%s failed: %v", rr.Command(), err)
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
 	// Parallelized tests
 	t.Run("parallel", func(t *testing.T) {
 		tests := []struct {
diff --git a/test/integration/helpers_test.go b/test/integration/helpers_test.go
index c41a20a209..3e90b282bb 100644
--- a/test/integration/helpers_test.go
+++ b/test/integration/helpers_test.go
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ func (rr RunResult) Output() string {
 	return sb.String()
 }
 
-// Run is a test helper to log a command being executed \_(ツ)_/¯
+// Run is a test helper to log a command being executed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 func Run(t *testing.T, cmd *exec.Cmd) (*RunResult, error) {
 	t.Helper()
 	rr := &RunResult{Args: cmd.Args}