diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yml b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
index 17feee7ab4..997ce41cdb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yml
@@ -96,7 +96,7 @@ jobs:
           pip install file://$PWD/python/ipywidgets#egg=ipywidgets[test]
       - name: Test with pytest
         run: |
-          pip install pytest
+          pip install "pytest<8"
           cd python/ipywidgets
           pytest --cov=ipywidgets ipywidgets
 
diff --git a/python/jupyterlab_widgets/src/manager.ts b/python/jupyterlab_widgets/src/manager.ts
index 9ee14d76fc..fec2cb3e4e 100644
--- a/python/jupyterlab_widgets/src/manager.ts
+++ b/python/jupyterlab_widgets/src/manager.ts
@@ -496,6 +496,7 @@ export class WidgetManager extends LabWidgetManager {
     { loadKernel, loadNotebook } = { loadKernel: true, loadNotebook: true }
   ): Promise<void> {
     try {
+      await this.context.sessionContext.ready;
       if (loadKernel) {
         try {
           this._kernelRestoreInProgress = true;
diff --git a/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts b/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts
index 9943840bd7..fff3d44555 100644
--- a/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts
+++ b/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ test.describe('Widget Visual Regression', () => {
 
     for (let i = 0; i < cellCount; i++) {
       const image = `widgets-cell-${i}.png`;
-      expect(captures[i]).toMatchSnapshot(image);
+      expect.soft(captures[i]).toMatchSnapshot(image);
     }
   });
 });
diff --git a/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts-snapshots/widgets-cell-40-linux.png b/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts-snapshots/widgets-cell-40-linux.png
index 55f4ca06b0..3174f7d2bd 100644
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diff --git a/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts-snapshots/widgets-cell-41-linux.png b/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts-snapshots/widgets-cell-41-linux.png
index 56fbf41053..10ca2304e6 100644
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diff --git a/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts-snapshots/widgets-cell-42-linux.png b/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts-snapshots/widgets-cell-42-linux.png
index 3ba7823af2..ababc4c03b 100644
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diff --git a/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts-snapshots/widgets-cell-43-linux.png b/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts-snapshots/widgets-cell-43-linux.png
index 0a8ff39463..f3dbb59270 100644
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diff --git a/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts-snapshots/widgets-cell-44-linux.png b/ui-tests/tests/widgets.test.ts-snapshots/widgets-cell-44-linux.png
index 510c9ae08f..8a4fd4ec09 100644
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