diff --git a/sdk/apps/virtual-ethernet/patches/spp-dpdk/master/0001-net-spp-initial-commit-of-AWS-SPP-network-driver.patch b/sdk/apps/virtual-ethernet/patches/spp-dpdk/master/0001-net-spp-initial-commit-of-AWS-SPP-network-driver.patch
index eb05f340b..e624ac2c8 100644
--- a/sdk/apps/virtual-ethernet/patches/spp-dpdk/master/0001-net-spp-initial-commit-of-AWS-SPP-network-driver.patch
+++ b/sdk/apps/virtual-ethernet/patches/spp-dpdk/master/0001-net-spp-initial-commit-of-AWS-SPP-network-driver.patch
@@ -667,17 +667,17 @@ index 0000000000..f7d4271848
 +
 +	static int num_spp_devs;
 +
-+	memset(spp_dev, 0, sizeof(struct spp_dev));
-+
 +	eth_dev->dev_ops = &eth_spp_ops;
 +	eth_dev->rx_pkt_burst = &spp_rx_pkt_burst;
 +	eth_dev->tx_pkt_burst = &spp_tx_pkt_burst;
-+	spp_dev->rte_eth_dev_data = eth_dev->data;
-+	spp_dev->rte_eth_dev = eth_dev;
-+
 +	if (rte_eal_process_type() != RTE_PROC_PRIMARY)
 +		return 0;
 +
++	memset(spp_dev, 0, sizeof(struct spp_dev));
++
++	spp_dev->rte_eth_dev_data = eth_dev->data;
++	spp_dev->rte_eth_dev = eth_dev;
++
 +	pci_dev = RTE_ETH_DEV_TO_PCI(eth_dev);
 +	spp_dev->pci_dev = pci_dev;
 +
diff --git a/sdk/apps/virtual-ethernet/scripts/virtual_ethernet_install.py b/sdk/apps/virtual-ethernet/scripts/virtual_ethernet_install.py
index 7a2ef4d24..b7f0098f9 100755
--- a/sdk/apps/virtual-ethernet/scripts/virtual_ethernet_install.py
+++ b/sdk/apps/virtual-ethernet/scripts/virtual_ethernet_install.py
@@ -97,10 +97,12 @@ def install_dpdk(install_path):
 
     # Clone the DPDK repo
     logger.info("Cloning %s version of %s into %s" % (dpdk_ver, dpdk_git, install_path))
-    cmd_exec("git clone -b %s %s" % (dpdk_ver, dpdk_git))
+    cmd_exec("git clone  %s" % (dpdk_git))
 
-    # cd to the dpdk directory 
+    # cd to the dpdk directory
     os.chdir("dpdk")
+    # checkout tag
+    cmd_exec("git checkout %s" % (dpdk_ver))
 
     # Check that the patches can be applied
     # for patchfile in patchfiles: