diff --git a/images/base/Dockerfile b/images/base/Dockerfile
index 31a73078ad..ddf666a390 100644
--- a/images/base/Dockerfile
+++ b/images/base/Dockerfile
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ RUN eval "$(gimme "${GO_VERSION}")" \
 # stage for building containerd
 FROM go-build AS build-containerd
 ARG TARGETARCH GO_VERSION
-ARG CONTAINERD_VERSION="v1.7.24"
+ARG CONTAINERD_VERSION="v2.0.1"
 ARG CONTAINERD_CLONE_URL="https://github.com/containerd/containerd"
 # we don't build with optional snapshotters, we never select any of these
 # they're not ideal inside kind anyhow, and we save some disk space
diff --git a/pkg/build/nodeimage/imageimporter.go b/pkg/build/nodeimage/imageimporter.go
index 7839263fe7..4e6da015c3 100644
--- a/pkg/build/nodeimage/imageimporter.go
+++ b/pkg/build/nodeimage/imageimporter.go
@@ -55,7 +55,8 @@ func (c *containerdImporter) Pull(image, platform string) error {
 func (c *containerdImporter) LoadCommand() exec.Cmd {
 	return c.containerCmder.Command(
 		// TODO: ideally we do not need this in the future. we have fixed at least one image
-		"ctr", "--namespace=k8s.io", "images", "import", "--label=io.cri-containerd.pinned=pinned", "--all-platforms", "--no-unpack", "--digests", "-",
+		// --local=true: see the comment in pkg/cluster/nodeutils/util.go
+		"ctr", "--namespace=k8s.io", "images", "import", "--local=true", "--label=io.cri-containerd.pinned=pinned", "--all-platforms", "--no-unpack", "--digests", "-",
 	)
 }
 
diff --git a/pkg/cluster/nodeutils/util.go b/pkg/cluster/nodeutils/util.go
index 501681a2ce..5dda343c3d 100644
--- a/pkg/cluster/nodeutils/util.go
+++ b/pkg/cluster/nodeutils/util.go
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ package nodeutils
 import (
 	"bytes"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"path"
 	"strings"
@@ -82,7 +83,9 @@ func LoadImageArchive(n nodes.Node, image io.Reader) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	cmd := n.Command("ctr", "--namespace=k8s.io", "images", "import", "--all-platforms", "--digests", "--snapshotter="+snapshotter, "-").SetStdin(image)
+	// --local=true: Disables the Transfer API mode that is enabled by default since containerd v2.0.
+	// Workaround for `ctr: rpc error: code = InvalidArgument desc = unable to initialize unpacker: no unpack platforms defined: invalid argument`
+	cmd := n.Command("ctr", "--namespace=k8s.io", "images", "import", "--local=true", "--all-platforms", "--digests", "--snapshotter="+snapshotter, "-").SetStdin(image)
 	if err := cmd.Run(); err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "failed to load image")
 	}
@@ -102,9 +105,24 @@ func parseSnapshotter(config string) (string, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", errors.Wrap(err, "failed to detect containerd snapshotter")
 	}
-	snapshotter, ok := parsed.GetPath([]string{"plugins", "io.containerd.grpc.v1.cri", "containerd", "snapshotter"}).(string)
+	configVersion, ok := parsed.Get("version").(int64)
 	if !ok {
-		return "", errors.New("failed to detect containerd snapshotter")
+		return "", errors.New("failed to detect containerd config version")
+	}
+	var snapshotter string
+	switch configVersion {
+	case 2: // Introduced in containerd v1.3. Still supported in containerd v2.
+		snapshotter, ok = parsed.GetPath([]string{"plugins", "io.containerd.grpc.v1.cri", "containerd", "snapshotter"}).(string)
+		if !ok {
+			return "", errors.New("failed to detect containerd snapshotter (config version 2)")
+		}
+	case 3: // Introduced in containerd v2.0.
+		snapshotter, ok = parsed.GetPath([]string{"plugins", "io.containerd.cri.v1.images", "snapshotter"}).(string)
+		if !ok {
+			return "", errors.New("failed to detect containerd snapshotter (config version 3)")
+		}
+	default:
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("unknown containerd config version: %d (supported versions: 2 and 3)", configVersion)
 	}
 	return snapshotter, nil
 }