--- a/testing/mozharness/mozharness/mozilla/testing/talos.py
+++ b/testing/mozharness/mozharness/mozilla/testing/talos.py
@@ -619,17 +619,20 @@ class Talos(TestingMixin, MercurialScrip
                 'config',
                 'mozbase_source_requirements.txt'
             )
         self.register_virtualenv_module(
             requirements=[mozbase_requirements],
             two_pass=True,
             editable=True,
         )
-        super(Talos, self).create_virtualenv()
+        # require pip >= 1.5 so pip will prefer .whl files to install
+        super(Talos, self).create_virtualenv(
+            modules=['pip>=1.5']
+        )
         # talos in harness requires what else is
         # listed in talos requirements.txt file.
         self.install_module(
             requirements=[os.path.join(self.talos_path,
                                        'requirements.txt')]
         )
 
     def _validate_treeherder_data(self, parser):

--- a/testing/mozharness/scripts/desktop_unittest.py
+++ b/testing/mozharness/scripts/desktop_unittest.py
@@ -314,17 +314,18 @@ class DesktopUnittest(TestingMixin, Merc
         else:
             self.abs_res_dir = abs_app_dir
         return self.abs_res_dir
 
     @PreScriptAction('create-virtualenv')
     def _pre_create_virtualenv(self, action):
         dirs = self.query_abs_dirs()
 
-        self.register_virtualenv_module('psutil==5.4.3')
+        self.register_virtualenv_module(name='pip>=1.5')
+        self.register_virtualenv_module('psutil==5.4.3', method='pip')
         self.register_virtualenv_module(name='mock')
         self.register_virtualenv_module(name='simplejson')
 
         requirements_files = [os.path.join(dirs['abs_test_install_dir'],
                               'config', 'marionette_requirements.txt')]
 
         if self._query_specified_suites('mochitest') is not None:
             # mochitest is the only thing that needs this

--- a/testing/mozharness/scripts/release/antivirus.py
+++ b/testing/mozharness/scripts/release/antivirus.py
@@ -74,16 +74,17 @@ class AntivirusScan(BaseScript, Virtuale
     CACHE_DIR = 'cache'
 
     def __init__(self):
         BaseScript.__init__(self,
                             config_options=self.config_options,
                             require_config_file=False,
                             config={
                                 "virtualenv_modules": [
+                                    "pip==1.5.5",
                                     "boto",
                                     "redo",
                                     "mar",
                                 ],
                                 "virtualenv_path": "venv",
                             },
                             all_actions=[
                                 "create-virtualenv",

--- a/testing/mozharness/scripts/release/generate-checksums.py
+++ b/testing/mozharness/scripts/release/generate-checksums.py
@@ -52,16 +52,17 @@ class ChecksumsGenerator(BaseScript, Vir
     ] + virtualenv_config_options
 
     def __init__(self):
         BaseScript.__init__(self,
                             config_options=self.config_options,
                             require_config_file=False,
                             config={
                                 "virtualenv_modules": [
+                                    "pip==1.5.5",
                                     "boto",
                                 ],
                                 "virtualenv_path": "venv",
                             },
                             all_actions=[
                                 "create-virtualenv",
                                 "collect-individual-checksums",
                                 "create-big-checksums",

--- a/testing/mozharness/scripts/release/push-candidate-to-releases.py
+++ b/testing/mozharness/scripts/release/push-candidate-to-releases.py
@@ -64,16 +64,17 @@ class ReleasePusher(BaseScript, Virtuale
     ] + virtualenv_config_options
 
     def __init__(self, aws_creds):
         BaseScript.__init__(self,
                             config_options=self.config_options,
                             require_config_file=False,
                             config={
                                     "virtualenv_modules": [
+                                        "pip==1.5.5",
                                         "boto",
                                         "redo",
                                     ],
                                     "virtualenv_path": "venv",
                                    },
                             all_actions=[
                                 "create-virtualenv",
                                 "activate-virtualenv",