diff --git a/qa/L0_backend_python/setup_python_enviroment.sh b/qa/L0_backend_python/setup_python_enviroment.sh
index 6e87564378..90d0f6eaf2 100755
--- a/qa/L0_backend_python/setup_python_enviroment.sh
+++ b/qa/L0_backend_python/setup_python_enviroment.sh
@@ -153,9 +153,8 @@ apt-get update && apt-get -y install \
                             "python3.${PYTHON_ENV_VERSION}-distutils" \
                             libboost-dev
 rm -f /usr/bin/python3 && \
-ln -s "/usr/bin/python3.${PYTHON_ENV_VERSION}" /usr/bin/python3 && \
-rm -r /usr/bin/python3.10
-pip3 install --upgrade install requests numpy virtualenv
+ln -s "/usr/bin/python3.${PYTHON_ENV_VERSION}" /usr/bin/python3
+pip3 install --upgrade install requests numpy virtualenv protobuf
 find /opt/tritonserver/qa/pkgs/ -maxdepth 1 -type f -name \
     "tritonclient-*linux*.whl" | xargs printf -- '%s[all]' | \
     xargs pip3 install --upgrade