diff --git a/scripts/test-suite.ps1 b/scripts/test-suite.ps1
index 9c50b8a..b15f612 100644
--- a/scripts/test-suite.ps1
+++ b/scripts/test-suite.ps1
@@ -234,7 +234,16 @@ if (-not $SkipE2E) {
             }
             if (-not $ready) { throw "E2E server did not become healthy on :18989" }
             $fleetSecret = ""
-            for ($j = 0; $j -lt 15; $j++) {
+            $basic = [Convert]::ToBase64String([Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes("${E2EUser}:${E2EPass}"))
+            $cfgHeaders = @{ Authorization = "Basic $basic"; "X-AetherForge-Client" = "dashboard" }
+            for ($j = 0; $j -lt 30; $j++) {
+                try {
+                    $cfg = Invoke-RestMethod "http://127.0.0.1:18989/api/v1/config" -Headers $cfgHeaders -TimeoutSec 3
+                    if ($cfg.server -and $cfg.server.fleet_secret) {
+                        $fleetSecret = [string]$cfg.server.fleet_secret
+                        break
+                    }
+                } catch {}
                 $cfgPath = Join-Path $DataDir "config.json"
                 if (Test-Path $cfgPath) {
                     $cfgRaw = Get-Content $cfgPath -Raw
@@ -245,7 +254,9 @@ if (-not $SkipE2E) {
                 }
                 Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
             }
-            if (-not $fleetSecret) { throw "E2E server config.json missing server.fleet_secret" }
+            if (-not $fleetSecret) { throw "E2E server missing server.fleet_secret (config API + config.json)" }
+            Remove-Item Env:AETHERFORGE_FLEET_SECRET -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+            Remove-Item Env:AETHERFORGE_URL -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
             Push-Location (Join-Path $Root "server\web")
             $env:AETHERFORGE_URL = "http://127.0.0.1:18989"
             $env:AETHERFORGE_FLEET_SECRET = $fleetSecret
diff --git a/server/web/e2e/fixtures.ts b/server/web/e2e/fixtures.ts
index acde002..9dd6c18 100644
--- a/server/web/e2e/fixtures.ts
+++ b/server/web/e2e/fixtures.ts
@@ -20,8 +20,10 @@ export function e2eAuthHeaders(): Record<string, string> {
  * Prefer AETHERFORGE_FLEET_SECRET (test-suite.ps1 seeds from data/config.json).
  */
 export async function fetchFleetSecret(request: APIRequestContext): Promise<string> {
-  const fromEnv = process.env.AETHERFORGE_FLEET_SECRET?.trim();
-  if (fromEnv) return fromEnv;
+  if (process.env.AETHERFORGE_E2E !== '1') {
+    const fromEnv = process.env.AETHERFORGE_FLEET_SECRET?.trim();
+    if (fromEnv) return fromEnv;
+  }
 
   const res = await request.get('/api/v1/config', {
     headers: e2eAuthHeaders(),
diff --git a/tests/README.md b/tests/README.md
index 3c19a2b..a10ef2f 100644
--- a/tests/README.md
+++ b/tests/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # AetherForge Test Suite
 
-**Current Vitest:** 734 tests in 87 files (`cd server/web && npm run test -- --run`). Full suite: `test.bat` → `scripts/test-suite.ps1`.
+**Current Vitest:** 740 tests in 87 files (`cd server/web && npm run test -- --run`). Full suite: `test.bat` → `scripts/test-suite.ps1`.
 
 One command runs everything: