diff --git a/tests/e2e/README.md b/tests/e2e/README.md
index 35eb6276..0c5ac287 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/README.md
+++ b/tests/e2e/README.md
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ mvn -q -pl server -DskipTests package
 cd tests/e2e
 npm install
 npx playwright install --with-deps chromium
-pip3 install -r tests/e2e/requirements.txt
+pip3 install -r requirements.txt
 ```
 
 3. Generate fixtures and start fixture server:
diff --git a/tests/e2e/scripts/generate-fixtures.mjs b/tests/e2e/scripts/generate-fixtures.mjs
index c35db03f..6d4efe01 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/scripts/generate-fixtures.mjs
+++ b/tests/e2e/scripts/generate-fixtures.mjs
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 import fs from 'node:fs';
 import path from 'node:path';
 import { execFileSync } from 'node:child_process';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
 
-const fixturesDir = path.resolve(process.cwd(), 'tests/e2e/fixtures');
+const __dirname = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+const fixturesDir = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'fixtures');
 fs.mkdirSync(fixturesDir, { recursive: true });
 
 const write = (name, content) => fs.writeFileSync(path.join(fixturesDir, name), content);
diff --git a/tests/e2e/specs/preview-smoke.spec.ts b/tests/e2e/specs/preview-smoke.spec.ts
index 8d307a94..42a7420a 100644
--- a/tests/e2e/specs/preview-smoke.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/e2e/specs/preview-smoke.spec.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test';
+import { test, expect, request as playwrightRequest } from '@playwright/test';
 
 const fixtureBase = process.env.FIXTURE_BASE_URL || 'http://127.0.0.1:18080';
 
@@ -11,12 +11,14 @@ async function openPreview(request: any, fileUrl: string) {
   return request.get(`/onlinePreview?url=${encoded}`);
 }
 
-test.beforeAll(async ({ request }) => {
+test.beforeAll(async () => {
+  const api = await playwrightRequest.newContext();
   const required = ['sample.txt', 'sample.docx', 'sample.xlsx', 'sample.pptx', 'sample.zip'];
   for (const name of required) {
-    const resp = await request.get(`${fixtureBase}/${name}`);
+    const resp = await api.get(`${fixtureBase}/${name}`);
     expect(resp.ok(), `fixture missing or unavailable: ${name}`).toBeTruthy();
   }
+  await api.dispose();
 });
 
 test('01 home/index reachable', async ({ request }) => {