diff --git a/e2e/cephfs.go b/e2e/cephfs.go
index a293f4bc9f2..b8cf0b80d78 100644
--- a/e2e/cephfs.go
+++ b/e2e/cephfs.go
@@ -246,6 +246,11 @@ var _ = Describe(cephfsType, func() {
 			logAndFail("failed to set cluster name: %v", err)
 		}
 
+		err = cephFSDeployment.setEnableFencing(true)
+		if err != nil {
+			logAndFail("failed to enable fencing: %v", err)
+		}
+
 		err = createSubvolumegroup(f, fileSystemName, subvolumegroup)
 		if err != nil {
 			logAndFail("failed to create subvolumegroup %s: %v", subvolumegroup, err)
diff --git a/e2e/operator.go b/e2e/operator.go
index 2b6efa94e3a..bdb2aab9c05 100644
--- a/e2e/operator.go
+++ b/e2e/operator.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 
 	clientset "k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes"
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/test/e2e/framework"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -58,7 +59,7 @@ func (r *OperatorDeployment) getPodSelector() string {
 		r.deploymentName, r.daemonsetName)
 }
 
-func (OperatorDeployment) setEnableMetadata(value bool) error {
+func (r *OperatorDeployment) setEnableMetadata(value bool) error {
 	command := []string{
 		"operatorconfigs.csi.ceph.io",
 		OperatorConfigName,
@@ -73,6 +74,40 @@ func (OperatorDeployment) setEnableMetadata(value bool) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// restart the pods so that the new configuration is activated
+	framework.Logf("enableMetadata has been set to %t, restarting Ceph-CSI pods", value)
+	podLabels := r.getPodSelector()
+	err = deletePodWithLabel(podLabels, cephCSINamespace, false)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to delete pods with labels (%s): %w", podLabels, err)
+	}
+	err = waitForDaemonSets(r.daemonsetName, cephCSINamespace, r.clientSet, deployTimeout)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("timeout waiting for daemonset pods: %w", err)
+	}
+	err = waitForDeploymentComplete(r.clientSet, r.deploymentName, cephCSINamespace, deployTimeout)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("timeout waiting for deployment to be in running state: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (OperatorDeployment) setEnableFencing(value bool) error {
+	command := []string{
+		"operatorconfigs.csi.ceph.io",
+		OperatorConfigName,
+		"--type=merge",
+		"-p",
+		fmt.Sprintf(`{"spec": {"driverSpecDefaults": {"enableFencing": %t}}}`, value),
+	}
+
+	// Patch the operator config
+	err := retryKubectlArgs(cephCSINamespace, kubectlPatch, deployTimeout, command...)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/e2e/rbd.go b/e2e/rbd.go
index 80efe0daf0e..64d1aa0b799 100644
--- a/e2e/rbd.go
+++ b/e2e/rbd.go
@@ -431,6 +431,11 @@ var _ = Describe("RBD", func() {
 			logAndFail("failed to set domain labels: %v", err)
 		}
 
+		err = rbdDeployment.setEnableFencing(true)
+		if err != nil {
+			logAndFail("failed to enable fencing: %v", err)
+		}
+
 		err = rbdDeployment.setClusterName(defaultClusterName)
 		if err != nil {
 			logAndFail("failed to set cluster name: %v", err)
diff --git a/e2e/utils.go b/e2e/utils.go
index 2c561dd504f..031fc44143a 100644
--- a/e2e/utils.go
+++ b/e2e/utils.go
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ type DeploymentMethod interface {
 	getDaemonsetName() string
 	getPodSelector() string
 	setClusterName(clusterName string) error
+	setEnableFencing(enable bool) error
 }
 type RBDDeploymentMethod interface {
 	DeploymentMethod
@@ -157,6 +158,12 @@ func (d *DriverInfo) setClusterName(clusterName string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func (d *DriverInfo) setEnableFencing(enable bool) error {
+	// No-op as fencing is enabled in the yaml files by default, disabling is not needed.
+	// Required implementation in OperatorDeployment.
+	return nil
+}
+
 // listCephFSFileSystems list CephFS filesystems in json format.
 func listCephFSFileSystems(f *framework.Framework) ([]cephfsFilesystem, error) {
 	var fsList []cephfsFilesystem
diff --git a/scripts/deploy-ceph-csi-operator.sh b/scripts/deploy-ceph-csi-operator.sh
index b7e76086b61..fb89765d25c 100755
--- a/scripts/deploy-ceph-csi-operator.sh
+++ b/scripts/deploy-ceph-csi-operator.sh
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ function generate_operator_config() {
     generate_encryption_configmap
 
     cat <<EOF >"${TEMP_DIR}/operatorconfig.yaml"
-apiVersion: csi.ceph.io/v1alpha1
+apiVersion: csi.ceph.io/v1
 kind: OperatorConfig
 metadata:
     name: ceph-csi-operator-config
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ EOF
 function generate_driver() {
     local driver_name=$1
     cat <<EOF >"${TEMP_DIR}/${driver_name}.yaml"
-apiVersion: csi.ceph.io/v1alpha1
+apiVersion: csi.ceph.io/v1
 kind: Driver
 metadata:
   name: ${driver_name}