diff --git a/changelog/v1.18.0-rc2/remove-manifest-symlink.yaml b/changelog/v1.18.0-rc2/remove-manifest-symlink.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..2f6a2e9812f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/v1.18.0-rc2/remove-manifest-symlink.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+changelog:
+  - type: NON_USER_FACING
+    issueLink: https://github.com/solo-io/solo-projects/issues/7255
+    resolvesIssue: false
+    description: >-
+      Remove `tcproute-crd.yaml` symlink and get the crd location from the crd package.
diff --git a/projects/gateway2/crds/crds.go b/projects/gateway2/crds/crds.go
index d2541cee21b..6af5799654c 100644
--- a/projects/gateway2/crds/crds.go
+++ b/projects/gateway2/crds/crds.go
@@ -2,7 +2,25 @@ package crds
 
 import (
 	_ "embed"
+	"path"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"runtime"
 )
 
 //go:embed gateway-crds.yaml
 var GatewayCrds []byte
+
+func getDirectory() string {
+	_, filename, _, _ := runtime.Caller(0)
+	return path.Dir(filename)
+}
+
+// directory is the absolute path to the directory containing the crd files
+// It can't change at runtime, so we can cache it
+var directory = getDirectory()
+
+// AbsPathToCrd returns the absolute path to directory in which crds are stored (currently the same directory as this file)
+// Used for tests to find the crd files if needed
+func AbsPathToCrd(crdFile string) string {
+	return filepath.Join(directory, crdFile)
+}
diff --git a/test/kubernetes/e2e/features/services/httproute/testdata/tcproute-crd.yaml b/test/kubernetes/e2e/features/services/httproute/testdata/tcproute-crd.yaml
deleted file mode 120000
index abdc43cdcc5..00000000000
--- a/test/kubernetes/e2e/features/services/httproute/testdata/tcproute-crd.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-../../../../../../../projects/gateway2/crds/tcproute-crd.yaml
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/kubernetes/e2e/features/services/httproute/types.go b/test/kubernetes/e2e/features/services/httproute/types.go
index bf431a974f5..4ae4a30ef94 100644
--- a/test/kubernetes/e2e/features/services/httproute/types.go
+++ b/test/kubernetes/e2e/features/services/httproute/types.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/solo-io/skv2/codegen/util"
 
 	"github.com/onsi/gomega/gstruct"
+	"github.com/solo-io/gloo/projects/gateway2/crds"
 	appsv1 "k8s.io/api/apps/v1"
 	corev1 "k8s.io/api/core/v1"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
@@ -17,7 +18,7 @@ import (
 var (
 	routeWithServiceManifest = filepath.Join(util.MustGetThisDir(), "testdata", "route-with-service.yaml")
 	serviceManifest          = filepath.Join(util.MustGetThisDir(), "testdata", "service-for-route.yaml")
-	tcpRouteCrdManifest      = filepath.Join(util.MustGetThisDir(), "testdata", "tcproute-crd.yaml")
+	tcpRouteCrdManifest      = filepath.Join(crds.AbsPathToCrd("tcproute-crd.yaml"))
 
 	// Proxy resource to be translated
 	glooProxyObjectMeta = metav1.ObjectMeta{