diff --git a/test/test-clusters/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/cluster/local/AbstractLocalClusterFactory.java b/test/test-clusters/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/cluster/local/AbstractLocalClusterFactory.java
index cfdca56542eb2..c2d274bb0b3eb 100644
--- a/test/test-clusters/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/cluster/local/AbstractLocalClusterFactory.java
+++ b/test/test-clusters/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/test/cluster/local/AbstractLocalClusterFactory.java
@@ -765,7 +765,12 @@ private void installModule(String moduleName, DefaultPluginInstallSpec installSp
 
                 });
 
-                IOUtils.syncMaybeWithLinks(modulePath, destination);
+                // If we aren't overriding anything we can use links here, otherwise do a full copy
+                if (installSpec.entitlementsOverride == null && installSpec.propertiesOverride == null) {
+                    IOUtils.syncMaybeWithLinks(modulePath, destination);
+                } else {
+                    IOUtils.syncWithCopy(modulePath, destination);
+                }
 
                 try {
                     if (installSpec.entitlementsOverride != null) {
@@ -794,7 +799,9 @@ private void installModule(String moduleName, DefaultPluginInstallSpec installSp
                     if (extendedProperty != null) {
                         String[] extendedModules = extendedProperty.split(",");
                         for (String module : extendedModules) {
-                            installModule(module, new DefaultPluginInstallSpec(), modulePaths);
+                            if (spec.getModules().containsKey(module) == false) {
+                                installModule(module, new DefaultPluginInstallSpec(), modulePaths);
+                            }
                         }
                     }
                 } catch (IOException e) {