diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/RestTestPlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/RestTestPlugin.groovy
index 2be80ca005a..68f32797969 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/RestTestPlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/RestTestPlugin.groovy
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ class RestTestPlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
         integTest.configure {
             classpath = project.sourceSets.test.runtimeClasspath
             testClassesDir project.sourceSets.test.output.classesDir
+            cluster.distribution = 'zip' // rest tests should run with the real zip
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/distribution/build.gradle b/distribution/build.gradle
index f0655dc1385..fde11f66cc4 100644
--- a/distribution/build.gradle
+++ b/distribution/build.gradle
@@ -157,6 +157,9 @@ configure(subprojects.findAll { it.name == 'zip' || it.name == 'tar' || it.name
       from('../src/main/resources') {
         include 'bin/*.exe'
       }
+      if (project.name != 'integ-test-zip') {
+        with modulesFiles
+      }
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/distribution/tar/build.gradle b/distribution/tar/build.gradle
index 3f27447740b..7230ab50799 100644
--- a/distribution/tar/build.gradle
+++ b/distribution/tar/build.gradle
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ task buildTar(type: Tar) {
   baseName = 'elasticsearch'
   extension = 'tar.gz'
   with archivesFiles
-  with modulesFiles
   compression = Compression.GZIP
 }
 
diff --git a/distribution/zip/build.gradle b/distribution/zip/build.gradle
index d3509b24fb7..23191ff03a4 100644
--- a/distribution/zip/build.gradle
+++ b/distribution/zip/build.gradle
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@
 task buildZip(type: Zip) {
   baseName = 'elasticsearch'
   with archivesFiles
-  with modulesFiles
 }
 
 artifacts {
diff --git a/qa/smoke-test-plugins/build.gradle b/qa/smoke-test-plugins/build.gradle
index c169ddc4a08..f2ab82976e5 100644
--- a/qa/smoke-test-plugins/build.gradle
+++ b/qa/smoke-test-plugins/build.gradle
@@ -23,12 +23,6 @@ apply plugin: 'elasticsearch.rest-test'
 
 ext.modulesCount = 0
 project.rootProject.subprojects.findAll { it.path.startsWith(':modules:') }.each { subproj ->
-  integTest {
-    cluster {
-      // need to get a non-decorated project object, so must re-lookup the project by path
-      module project(subproj.path)
-    }
-  }
   modulesCount += 1
 }