diff --git a/minicluster/pom.xml b/minicluster/pom.xml
index 50ca43cdc71..9904356bfff 100644
--- a/minicluster/pom.xml
+++ b/minicluster/pom.xml
@@ -96,10 +96,6 @@
       <groupId>org.apache.zookeeper</groupId>
       <artifactId>zookeeper</artifactId>
     </dependency>
-    <dependency>
-      <groupId>org.apache.zookeeper</groupId>
-      <artifactId>zookeeper-jute</artifactId>
-    </dependency>
     <dependency>
       <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
       <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
diff --git a/minicluster/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/miniclusterImpl/MiniAccumuloClusterImpl.java b/minicluster/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/miniclusterImpl/MiniAccumuloClusterImpl.java
index 86cec11696d..4eddb61c9e2 100644
--- a/minicluster/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/miniclusterImpl/MiniAccumuloClusterImpl.java
+++ b/minicluster/src/main/java/org/apache/accumulo/miniclusterImpl/MiniAccumuloClusterImpl.java
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.data.InstanceId;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.data.TableId;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.fate.zookeeper.ZooReaderWriter;
-import org.apache.accumulo.core.fate.zookeeper.ZooUtil;
+import org.apache.accumulo.core.fate.zookeeper.ZooUtil.NodeExistsPolicy;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.lock.ServiceLock;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.lock.ServiceLock.AccumuloLockWatcher;
 import org.apache.accumulo.core.lock.ServiceLock.LockLossReason;
@@ -121,7 +121,6 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.DFSConfigKeys;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.MiniDFSCluster;
-import org.apache.zookeeper.CreateMode;
 import org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -723,14 +722,9 @@ public void failedToAcquireLock(Exception e) {
       String miniZDirPath =
           miniZInstancePath.substring(0, miniZInstancePath.indexOf("/" + miniUUID.toString()));
       try {
-        if (miniLockZk.exists(miniZDirPath, null) == null) {
-          miniLockZk.create(miniZDirPath, new byte[0], ZooUtil.PUBLIC, CreateMode.PERSISTENT);
-          log.info("Created: {}", miniZDirPath);
-        }
-        if (miniLockZk.exists(miniZInstancePath, null) == null) {
-          miniLockZk.create(miniZInstancePath, new byte[0], ZooUtil.PUBLIC, CreateMode.PERSISTENT);
-          log.info("Created: {}", miniZInstancePath);
-        }
+        var zrw = miniLockZk.asReaderWriter();
+        zrw.putPersistentData(miniZDirPath, new byte[0], NodeExistsPolicy.SKIP);
+        zrw.putPersistentData(miniZInstancePath, new byte[0], NodeExistsPolicy.SKIP);
       } catch (KeeperException | InterruptedException e) {
         throw new IllegalStateException("Error creating path in ZooKeeper", e);
       }