diff --git a/.github/workflows/kind_e2e.yaml b/.github/workflows/kind_e2e.yaml
index af559b29a..ca5a110e2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/kind_e2e.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/kind_e2e.yaml
@@ -50,11 +50,10 @@ jobs:
     name: E2E tests for K8s (KinD)
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     env:
-      DAPR_RUNTIME_PINNED_VERSION: 1.13.0-rc.2
+      DAPR_RUNTIME_PINNED_VERSION: 1.13.5
       DAPR_DASHBOARD_PINNED_VERSION: 0.14.0
       DAPR_RUNTIME_LATEST_STABLE_VERSION:
       DAPR_DASHBOARD_LATEST_STABLE_VERSION:
-      DAPR_TGZ: dapr-1.13.0-rc.2.tgz
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false # Keep running if one leg fails.
       matrix:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/self_hosted_e2e.yaml b/.github/workflows/self_hosted_e2e.yaml
index c8c0441ba..e8550ee4c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/self_hosted_e2e.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/self_hosted_e2e.yaml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ jobs:
       DAPR_RUNTIME_LATEST_STABLE_VERSION: ""
       DAPR_DASHBOARD_LATEST_STABLE_VERSION: ""
       GOLANG_PROTOBUF_REGISTRATION_CONFLICT: warn
-      PODMAN_VERSION: 4.4.4
+      PODMAN_VERSION: 4.9.3
     strategy:
       # TODO: Remove this when our E2E tests are stable for podman on MacOS.
       fail-fast: false # Keep running if one leg fails.
diff --git a/pkg/standalone/standalone.go b/pkg/standalone/standalone.go
index bc7fba008..00bc6d100 100644
--- a/pkg/standalone/standalone.go
+++ b/pkg/standalone/standalone.go
@@ -673,7 +673,11 @@ func runSchedulerService(wg *sync.WaitGroup, errorChan chan<- error, info initIn
 		)
 	}
 
-	args = append(args, image, "--etcd-data-dir=/var/lock/dapr/scheduler")
+	if strings.EqualFold(info.imageVariant, "mariner") {
+		args = append(args, image, "--etcd-data-dir=/var/tmp/dapr/scheduler")
+	} else {
+		args = append(args, image, "--etcd-data-dir=/var/lock/dapr/scheduler")
+	}
 
 	_, err = utils.RunCmdAndWait(runtimeCmd, args...)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/tests/e2e/standalone/init_test.go b/tests/e2e/standalone/init_test.go
index e07b405a6..f7ff3066b 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/standalone/init_test.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/standalone/init_test.go
@@ -167,15 +167,17 @@ func TestStandaloneInit(t *testing.T) {
 			placementPort = 6050
 		}
 
-		verifyTCPLocalhost(t,  placementPort)
+		verifyTCPLocalhost(t, placementPort)
 	})
 
 	t.Run("init version with scheduler", func(t *testing.T) {
 		// Ensure a clean environment
 		must(t, cmdUninstall, "failed to uninstall Dapr")
 
+		latestDaprRuntimeVersion, latestDaprDashboardVersion := common.GetVersionsFromEnv(t, true)
+
 		args := []string{
-			"--runtime-version", "1.14.0-rc.3",
+			"--runtime-version", latestDaprRuntimeVersion,
 			"--dev",
 		}
 		output, err := cmdInit(args...)
@@ -189,9 +191,8 @@ func TestStandaloneInit(t *testing.T) {
 		daprPath := filepath.Join(homeDir, ".dapr")
 		require.DirExists(t, daprPath, "Directory %s does not exist", daprPath)
 
-		_, latestDaprDashboardVersion := common.GetVersionsFromEnv(t, true)
-		verifyContainers(t, "1.14.0-rc.3")
-		verifyBinaries(t, daprPath, "1.14.0-rc.3", latestDaprDashboardVersion)
+		verifyContainers(t, latestDaprRuntimeVersion)
+		verifyBinaries(t, daprPath, latestDaprRuntimeVersion, latestDaprDashboardVersion)
 		verifyConfigs(t, daprPath)
 
 		placementPort := 50005
@@ -201,8 +202,8 @@ func TestStandaloneInit(t *testing.T) {
 			schedulerPort = 6060
 		}
 
-		verifyTCPLocalhost(t,  placementPort)
-		verifyTCPLocalhost(t,  schedulerPort)
+		verifyTCPLocalhost(t, placementPort)
+		verifyTCPLocalhost(t, schedulerPort)
 	})
 
 	t.Run("init without runtime-version flag with mariner images", func(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/tests/e2e/standalone/list_test.go b/tests/e2e/standalone/list_test.go
index a33345644..b3514710b 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/standalone/list_test.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/standalone/list_test.go
@@ -137,6 +137,13 @@ func TestStandaloneList(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Log(output)
 		require.NoError(t, err, "expected no error status on list")
 		require.Equal(t, "No Dapr instances found.\n", output)
+
+		// This test is skipped on Windows, but just in case, try to terminate dashboard process only on non-Windows OSs
+		// stopProcess uses kill command, won't work on windows
+		if runtime.GOOS != "windows" {
+			err = stopProcess("dashboard", "--port", "5555")
+			require.NoError(t, err, "failed to stop dashboard process")
+		}
 	})
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/e2e/standalone/utils.go b/tests/e2e/standalone/utils.go
index 87d2fa78c..9d80c4f4f 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/standalone/utils.go
+++ b/tests/e2e/standalone/utils.go
@@ -157,3 +157,35 @@ func containerRuntime() string {
 	}
 	return ""
 }
+
+func getRunningProcesses() []string {
+	cmd := exec.Command("ps", "-o", "pid,command")
+	output, err := cmd.Output()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	processes := strings.Split(string(output), "\n")
+
+	// clean the process output whitespace
+	for i, process := range processes {
+		processes[i] = strings.TrimSpace(process)
+	}
+	return processes
+}
+
+func stopProcess(args ...string) error {
+	processCommand := strings.Join(args, " ")
+	processes := getRunningProcesses()
+	for _, process := range processes {
+		if strings.Contains(process, processCommand) {
+			processSplit := strings.SplitN(process, " ", 2)
+			cmd := exec.Command("kill", "-9", processSplit[0])
+			err := cmd.Run()
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}