diff --git a/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml
index 3f724635216..019a1593194 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/run-tests.yml
@@ -31,6 +31,13 @@ jobs:
           distribution: 'temurin'
           java-version: 8
 
+      - name: Docker Images Cleanup
+        run: |
+          df -h
+          docker image ls
+          docker image rm $(docker image ls -q) -f
+          df -h
+
       - name: befor install -> docker.sh
         run:  ./tools/travis/docker.sh
 
@@ -53,7 +60,11 @@ jobs:
       #  run: ./tools/travis/runUnitTests.sh && ./tools/travis/checkAndUploadLogs.sh unit db
 
       - name: script -> System Tests
-        run: ./tools/travis/runSystemTests.sh && ./tools/travis/checkAndUploadLogs.sh system
+        run: |
+          df -h \
+          && ./tools/travis/runSystemTests.sh \
+          && df-h \
+          && ./tools/travis/checkAndUploadLogs.sh system
 
       #- name: script -> Multi-Runtime Tests
       #  run: ./tools/travis/runMultiRuntimeTests.sh && ./tools/travis/checkAndUploadLogs.sh multi-runtime
diff --git a/tools/travis/docker.sh b/tools/travis/docker.sh
index 21eed7c2b16..bc93d4dc869 100755
--- a/tools/travis/docker.sh
+++ b/tools/travis/docker.sh
@@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ sudo gpasswd -a travis docker
 sudo usermod -aG docker travis
 #sudo -E bash -c 'echo '\''DOCKER_OPTS="-H tcp://0.0.0.0:4243 -H unix:///var/run/docker.sock --storage-driver=overlay --userns-remap=default"'\'' > /etc/default/docker'
 
+# change default data directory for docker to /mnt/docker (in githubactions)
+sudo mkdir -p /mnt/docker
+sudo -E bash -c 'echo '\''DOCKER_OPTS="-g /mnt/docker"'\'' > /etc/default/docker'
+
 # Docker
 sudo apt-get clean
 sudo apt-get update
diff --git a/tools/travis/runSystemTests.sh b/tools/travis/runSystemTests.sh
index 8325caddbae..fd2bfc43b5b 100755
--- a/tools/travis/runSystemTests.sh
+++ b/tools/travis/runSystemTests.sh
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 #
 
 set -e
+set -x
 
 SCRIPTDIR=$(cd $(dirname "$0") && pwd)
 ROOTDIR="$SCRIPTDIR/../.."
diff --git a/tools/travis/runTests.sh b/tools/travis/runTests.sh
index e2a7f7a4b32..3627df1900c 100755
--- a/tools/travis/runTests.sh
+++ b/tools/travis/runTests.sh
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #
 
 set -e
+set -x
 
 # Build script for Travis-CI.
 
@@ -26,7 +27,21 @@ ROOTDIR="$SCRIPTDIR/../.."
 
 cd $ROOTDIR
 cat whisk.properties
-TERM=dumb ./gradlew :tests:testCoverageLean :tests:reportCoverage :tests:testSwaggerCodegen
+( # run this in a subshell to get the result code but not terminating the process to print the logs.
+  set +e
+  TERM=dumb ./gradlew :tests:testCoverageLean :tests:reportCoverage :tests:testSwaggerCodegen
+
+  if [[ "$?" != "0" ]]; then
+    # debugging notes
+    # || true;  set -x; docker ps -a; for i in $(docker ps -a --format="{{.Names}}"); do  docker logs $i || true; done; ls -alhR /tmp/wsklogs;
+    # || true;  set -x; docker ps -a; ls -R /tmp/wsklogs ;cat /tmp/wsklogs/invoker0/invoker0_logs.log; cat /tmp/wsklogs/controller0/controller0_logs.log;
+
+    set -x # show the following commands in the output
+    cat /tmp/wsklogs/invoker0/invoker0_logs.log
+    cat /tmp/wsklogs/controller0/controller0_logs.log
+    exit 1
+  fi
+)
 
 bash <(curl -s https://codecov.io/bash)
 echo "Time taken for ${0##*/} is $SECONDS secs"