diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f62a9669..871d5101 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ Inspired from [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/)
 ### Deprecated
 ### Removed
 ### Fixed
+- Fixed test client initialization to ensure tests run locally ([879](https://github.com/opensearch-project/opensearch-py/pull/879))
 ### Security
 
 ## [2.8.0]
diff --git a/test_opensearchpy/run_tests.py b/test_opensearchpy/run_tests.py
index a9f01b7b..c3b9e52d 100755
--- a/test_opensearchpy/run_tests.py
+++ b/test_opensearchpy/run_tests.py
@@ -68,7 +68,13 @@ def fetch_opensearch_repo() -> None:
 
     # find out the sha of the running client
     try:
-        client = get_client()
+        password = environ.get("OPENSEARCH_INITIAL_ADMIN_PASSWORD")
+        if password is None:
+            password = environ.get("OPENSEARCH_PASSWORD", "admin")
+        client = get_client(
+            verify_certs=False,
+            http_auth=("admin", password),
+        )
         sha = client.info()["version"]["build_hash"]
     except (SkipTest, KeyError):
         print("No running opensearch >1.X server...")