diff --git a/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/install-k3s b/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/install-k3s
index e93d435fd96..3fdf8438852 100755
--- a/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/install-k3s
+++ b/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/install-k3s
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ ln -s -f "${K3S_DIR}/${K3S}" /usr/local/bin/k3s
 # The file system may be readonly (on macOS)
 chmod a+x "${K3S_DIR}/${K3S}" || true
 
-# Make sure any old manifests are removed before configuring k3s again
+# Make sure any old manifests are removed before configuring k3s again.
 # We need to create the directory before we run `k3s server ...` because
 # we install additional manifests that k3s will install during startup.
 MANIFESTS=/var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/manifests
diff --git a/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/spin-operator.helm-chart.yaml b/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/spin-operator.helm-chart.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 1a10fa5fd7a..00000000000
--- a/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/spin-operator.helm-chart.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-apiVersion: helm.cattle.io/v1
-kind: HelmChart
-metadata:
-  name: spin-operator
-  namespace: kube-system
-spec:
-  chart: "https://%{KUBERNETES_API}%/static/rancher-desktop/spin-operator.tgz"
-  targetNamespace: spin-operator
-  createNamespace: true
diff --git a/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/spin-operator.shim-executor.yaml b/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/spin-operator.shim-executor.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 357046c1f55..00000000000
--- a/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/spin-operator.shim-executor.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-apiVersion: core.spinoperator.dev/v1alpha1
-kind: SpinAppExecutor
-metadata:
-  name: containerd-shim-spin
-spec:
-  createDeployment: true
-  deploymentConfig:
-    runtimeClassName: spin
diff --git a/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/spin-operator.yaml b/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/spin-operator.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9a716915802
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/rancher-desktop/assets/scripts/spin-operator.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+---
+apiVersion: core.spinoperator.dev/v1alpha1
+kind: SpinAppExecutor
+metadata:
+  name: containerd-shim-spin
+spec:
+  createDeployment: true
+  deploymentConfig:
+    runtimeClassName: spin
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Namespace
+metadata:
+  name: spin-operator
+---
+apiVersion: helm.cattle.io/v1
+kind: HelmChart
+metadata:
+  name: spin-operator
+  namespace: kube-system
+spec:
+  chart: "https://%{KUBERNETES_API}%/static/rancher-desktop/spin-operator.tgz"
+  targetNamespace: spin-operator
+  # Old versions of the helm-controller don't support createNamespace, so we
+  # created the namespace ourselves.
+  createNamespace: false
diff --git a/pkg/rancher-desktop/backend/backendHelper.ts b/pkg/rancher-desktop/backend/backendHelper.ts
index faa451b347b..4570ced9315 100644
--- a/pkg/rancher-desktop/backend/backendHelper.ts
+++ b/pkg/rancher-desktop/backend/backendHelper.ts
@@ -7,8 +7,7 @@ import yaml from 'yaml';
 
 import INSTALL_CONTAINERD_SHIMS_SCRIPT from '@pkg/assets/scripts/install-containerd-shims';
 import CONTAINERD_CONFIG from '@pkg/assets/scripts/k3s-containerd-config.toml';
-import SPIN_OPERATOR_HELM_CHART from '@pkg/assets/scripts/spin-operator.helm-chart.yaml';
-import SPIN_OPERATOR_SHIM_EXECUTOR from '@pkg/assets/scripts/spin-operator.shim-executor.yaml';
+import SPIN_OPERATOR from '@pkg/assets/scripts/spin-operator.yaml';
 import { BackendSettings, VMExecutor } from '@pkg/backend/backend';
 import { LockedFieldError } from '@pkg/config/commandLineOptions';
 import { ContainerEngine, Settings } from '@pkg/config/settings';
@@ -25,11 +24,10 @@ const DOCKER_DAEMON_JSON = '/etc/docker/daemon.json';
 const MANIFEST_DIR = '/var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/manifests';
 // Manifests are applied in sort order, so use a prefix to load them last, in the required sequence.
 // Also: don't use `runtimes.yaml` because k3s may overwrite it.
-const MANIFEST_RUNTIMES_YAML = `${ MANIFEST_DIR }/z100-rd-runtimes.yaml`;
+const MANIFEST_RUNTIMES_YAML = `${ MANIFEST_DIR }/z100-runtimes.yaml`;
 const MANIFEST_CERT_MANAGER = `${ MANIFEST_DIR }/z110-cert-manager.yaml`;
 const MANIFEST_SPIN_OPERATOR_CRDS = `${ MANIFEST_DIR }/z120-spin-operator.crds.yaml`;
-const MANIFEST_SPIN_OPERATOR_SHIM_EXECUTOR = `${ MANIFEST_DIR }/z121-spin-operator.shim-executor.yaml`;
-const MANIFEST_SPIN_OPERATOR_CHART = `${ MANIFEST_DIR }/z122-spin-operator.chart.yaml`;
+const MANIFEST_SPIN_OPERATOR = `${ MANIFEST_DIR }/z125-spin-operator.yaml`;
 
 const STATIC_DIR = '/var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/static/rancher-desktop';
 const STATIC_SPIN_OPERATOR_CHART = `${ STATIC_DIR }/spin-operator.tgz`;
@@ -299,8 +297,7 @@ export default class BackendHelper {
       vmx.copyFileIn(path.join(paths.resources, 'cert-manager.yaml'), MANIFEST_CERT_MANAGER),
       vmx.copyFileIn(path.join(paths.resources, 'spin-operator.crds.yaml'), MANIFEST_SPIN_OPERATOR_CRDS),
       vmx.copyFileIn(path.join(paths.resources, 'spin-operator.tgz'), STATIC_SPIN_OPERATOR_CHART),
-      vmx.writeFile(MANIFEST_SPIN_OPERATOR_SHIM_EXECUTOR, SPIN_OPERATOR_SHIM_EXECUTOR, 0o644),
-      vmx.writeFile(MANIFEST_SPIN_OPERATOR_CHART, SPIN_OPERATOR_HELM_CHART, 0o644),
+      vmx.writeFile(MANIFEST_SPIN_OPERATOR, SPIN_OPERATOR, 0o644),
     ]);
   }
 
diff --git a/pkg/rancher-desktop/main/commandServer/settingsValidator.ts b/pkg/rancher-desktop/main/commandServer/settingsValidator.ts
index 7890115b0ee..fa8263660f1 100644
--- a/pkg/rancher-desktop/main/commandServer/settingsValidator.ts
+++ b/pkg/rancher-desktop/main/commandServer/settingsValidator.ts
@@ -374,12 +374,19 @@ export default class SettingsValidator {
   }
 
   protected checkSpinkube(mergedSettings: Settings, currentValue: boolean, desiredValue: boolean, errors: string[], fqname: string): boolean {
-    // only validate the Spinkube option when Kubernetes is enabled
-    if (desiredValue && mergedSettings.kubernetes.enabled && !mergedSettings.experimental.containerEngine.webAssembly.enabled) {
-      errors.push(`Setting ${ fqname } can only be set when experimental.container-engine.web-assembly.enabled is set as well.`);
-      this.isFatal = true;
+    if (mergedSettings.kubernetes.enabled && desiredValue) {
+      if (!mergedSettings.experimental.containerEngine.webAssembly.enabled) {
+        errors.push(`Setting ${ fqname } can only be set when experimental.container-engine.web-assembly.enabled is set as well.`);
+        this.isFatal = true;
 
-      return false;
+        return false;
+      }
+      if (mergedSettings.kubernetes.version === '' || semver.gt('1.22.0', mergedSettings.kubernetes.version)) {
+        errors.push(`Setting ${ fqname } requires Kubernetes 1.22 or later`);
+        this.isFatal = true;
+
+        return false;
+      }
     }
 
     return currentValue !== desiredValue;