Configuring Test Kitchen to Download Licensed Chef Infra Client Packages (Including Legacy Versions) After Omnitruck Changes

With the introduction of authenticated Chef package downloads, older versions of Chef Workstation (such as Workstation 24.x) are no longer able to download commercial Chef Infra Client packages during Test Kitchen runs without additional support. This article explains how to configure Test Kitchen to authenticate with the Chef Downloads API, enabling downloads of licensed Chef Infra Client packages, including legacy versions such as Chef Infra Client 15.x.

Jul 29, 2026
Knowledge

Title

URL Name

Configuring-Test-Kitchen-to-Download-Licensed-Chef-Infra-Client-Packages-Including-Legacy-Versions-After-Omnitruck-Changes

Article Number

000303206

Environment

Question/Problem Description

When running kitchen create or kitchen converge, Test Kitchen may fail to download the requested Chef Infra Client version.

Common errors include:

402 Payment Required
Authentication failures when downloading Chef Infra Client packages.
Older Chef Infra Client versions (15.x and below) can no longer be downloaded from Omnitruck.
knife license add --chef-license-key succeeds, but Test Kitchen still cannot download packages.

Steps to Reproduce

Clarifying Information

Error Message

Defect Number

Enhancement Number

Cause

Chef package downloads have moved from the public Omnitruck service to the authenticated Chef Downloads API.

Older versions of Chef Workstation (for example, Workstation 24.x) ship with an older kitchen-omnibus-chef provisioner that does not support authenticated downloads.

Support for authenticated downloads was added in Chef Workstation 25.14.2.

Starting with Chef Workstation 26, the kitchen-chef-enterprise plugin replaces the deprecated kitchen-omnibus-chef plugin and is bundled automatically.

Resolution

Step 1: Upgrade Chef Workstation

Upgrade to Chef Workstation 25.14.2 or later.

Chef Workstation 25.14.2 includes an updated kitchen-omnibus-chef gem that supports authenticated downloads from the Chef Downloads API.

Reference:

https://docs.chef.io/release_notes/workstation/#component-updates

Step 2: Configure the Chef License for Test Kitchen

Test Kitchen must receive the Chef license independently.

There are two supported methods.

Option 1: Specify the license key directly

provisioner:
  name: chef_zero
  chef_license_key: YOUR_LICENSE_KEY

Option 2 (Recommended): Use an environment variable

Set an environment variable:

export CHEF_LICENSE_KEY=<your_license_key>

Reference it from your kitchen.yml:

provisioner:
  name: chef_zero
  chef_license_key: <%= ENV['CHEF_LICENSE_KEY'] %>

This avoids storing the license key in source control.

Reference:

https://kitchen.ci/docs/provisioners/chef/#chef-installation-configuration

Step 3: Run Test Kitchen

Run Test Kitchen as usual:

kitchen create
or
kitchen converge

The Chef provisioner will authenticate against the Chef Downloads API and download the requested Chef Infra Client package.

References

Chef Workstation Release Notes
https://docs.chef.io/release_notes/workstation/#component-updates
Test Kitchen Chef Provisioner Configuration
https://kitchen.ci/docs/provisioners/chef/#chef-installation-configuration
Commercial Downloads Documentation
https://docs.chef.io/download/commercial/
https://community.progress.com/s/article/Configuring-Chef-Workstation-and-Local-Chef-Testing-with-a-Commercial-License-Key

Workaround

Notes

knife license add --chef-license-key alone is not sufficient for Test Kitchen authenticated downloads.
Test Kitchen requires the license to be supplied through the Chef provisioner configuration (chef_license_key).
Chef Workstation 24.x does not include the authenticated download support required for the new download infrastructure.
Starting with Chef Workstation 26, kitchen-chef-enterprise is bundled by default and replaces the deprecated kitchen-omnibus-chef plugin.

Keyword Phrase

Last Modified Date

7/29/2026 5:27 PM