diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/init/preflight.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/init/preflight.go
index b55f02a1fb1..6fca2a7367c 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/init/preflight.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/init/preflight.go
@@ -62,6 +62,10 @@ func runPreflight(c workflow.RunData) error {
 	}
 
 	fmt.Println("[preflight] Running pre-flight checks")
+	// First, check if we're root separately from the other preflight checks and fail fast.
+	if err := preflight.RunRootCheckOnly(data.IgnorePreflightErrors()); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	if err := preflight.RunInitNodeChecks(utilsexec.New(), data.Cfg(), data.IgnorePreflightErrors(), false, false); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/preflight.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/preflight.go
index c891c85973c..2b155eb36cd 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/preflight.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/cmd/phases/join/preflight.go
@@ -91,6 +91,10 @@ func runPreflight(c workflow.RunData) error {
 
 	// Start with general checks
 	klog.V(1).Infoln("[preflight] Running general checks")
+	// First, check if we're root separately from the other preflight checks and fail fast.
+	if err := preflight.RunRootCheckOnly(j.IgnorePreflightErrors()); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 	if err := preflight.RunJoinNodeChecks(utilsexec.New(), j.Cfg(), j.IgnorePreflightErrors()); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/preflight/checks.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/preflight/checks.go
index ab02e96d264..d5cd1e758d3 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/preflight/checks.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/preflight/checks.go
@@ -909,13 +909,6 @@ func (MemCheck) Name() string {
 
 // InitNodeChecks returns checks specific to "kubeadm init"
 func InitNodeChecks(execer utilsexec.Interface, cfg *kubeadmapi.InitConfiguration, ignorePreflightErrors sets.Set[string], isSecondaryControlPlane bool, downloadCerts bool) ([]Checker, error) {
-	if !isSecondaryControlPlane {
-		// First, check if we're root separately from the other preflight checks and fail fast
-		if err := RunRootCheckOnly(ignorePreflightErrors); err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-	}
-
 	manifestsDir := filepath.Join(kubeadmconstants.KubernetesDir, kubeadmconstants.ManifestsSubDirName)
 	checks := []Checker{
 		NumCPUCheck{NumCPU: kubeadmconstants.ControlPlaneNumCPU},
@@ -1030,11 +1023,6 @@ func RunInitNodeChecks(execer utilsexec.Interface, cfg *kubeadmapi.InitConfigura
 
 // JoinNodeChecks returns checks specific to "kubeadm join"
 func JoinNodeChecks(execer utilsexec.Interface, cfg *kubeadmapi.JoinConfiguration, ignorePreflightErrors sets.Set[string]) ([]Checker, error) {
-	// First, check if we're root separately from the other preflight checks and fail fast
-	if err := RunRootCheckOnly(ignorePreflightErrors); err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
-
 	checks := []Checker{
 		FileAvailableCheck{Path: filepath.Join(kubeadmconstants.KubernetesDir, kubeadmconstants.KubeletKubeConfigFileName)},
 		FileAvailableCheck{Path: filepath.Join(kubeadmconstants.KubernetesDir, kubeadmconstants.KubeletBootstrapKubeConfigFileName)},
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/preflight/checks_test.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/preflight/checks_test.go
index b48833b0186..fcca2a37e99 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/preflight/checks_test.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/preflight/checks_test.go
@@ -902,11 +902,6 @@ func TestInitIPCheck(t *testing.T) {
 	if runtime.GOOS != "linux" {
 		t.Skip("unsupported OS")
 	}
-	// should be a privileged user for the `init` command, otherwise just skip it.
-	isPrivileged := IsPrivilegedUserCheck{}
-	if _, err := isPrivileged.Check(); err != nil {
-		t.Skip("not a privileged user")
-	}
 	internalcfg, err := configutil.DefaultedStaticInitConfiguration()
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("unexpected failure when defaulting InitConfiguration: %v", err)
@@ -969,11 +964,6 @@ func TestJoinIPCheck(t *testing.T) {
 	if runtime.GOOS != "linux" {
 		t.Skip("unsupported OS")
 	}
-	// should be a privileged user for the `join` command, otherwise just skip it.
-	isPrivileged := IsPrivilegedUserCheck{}
-	if _, err := isPrivileged.Check(); err != nil {
-		t.Skip("not a privileged user")
-	}
 
 	opts := configutil.LoadOrDefaultConfigurationOptions{
 		SkipCRIDetect: true,