diff --git a/registry/storage/driver/s3-aws/s3.go b/registry/storage/driver/s3-aws/s3.go
index 8b6e213e5..019852308 100644
--- a/registry/storage/driver/s3-aws/s3.go
+++ b/registry/storage/driver/s3-aws/s3.go
@@ -36,7 +36,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/s3"
 
 	dcontext "github.com/distribution/distribution/v3/context"
-	"github.com/distribution/distribution/v3/registry/client/transport"
 	storagedriver "github.com/distribution/distribution/v3/registry/storage/driver"
 	"github.com/distribution/distribution/v3/registry/storage/driver/base"
 	"github.com/distribution/distribution/v3/registry/storage/driver/factory"
@@ -526,28 +525,24 @@ func New(params DriverParameters) (*Driver, error) {
 		awsConfig.UseDualStackEndpoint = endpoints.DualStackEndpointStateEnabled
 	}
 
-	if params.UserAgent != "" || params.SkipVerify {
-		httpTransport := http.DefaultTransport
-		if params.SkipVerify {
-			httpTransport = &http.Transport{
-				TLSClientConfig: &tls.Config{InsecureSkipVerify: true},
-			}
-		}
-		if params.UserAgent != "" {
-			awsConfig.WithHTTPClient(&http.Client{
-				Transport: transport.NewTransport(httpTransport, transport.NewHeaderRequestModifier(http.Header{http.CanonicalHeaderKey("User-Agent"): []string{params.UserAgent}})),
-			})
-		} else {
-			awsConfig.WithHTTPClient(&http.Client{
-				Transport: transport.NewTransport(httpTransport),
-			})
+	if params.SkipVerify {
+		httpTransport := &http.Transport{
+			TLSClientConfig: &tls.Config{InsecureSkipVerify: true},
 		}
+		awsConfig.WithHTTPClient(&http.Client{
+			Transport: httpTransport,
+		})
 	}
 
 	sess, err := session.NewSession(awsConfig)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to create new session with aws config: %v", err)
 	}
+
+	if params.UserAgent != "" {
+		sess.Handlers.Build.PushBack(request.MakeAddToUserAgentFreeFormHandler(params.UserAgent))
+	}
+
 	s3obj := s3.New(sess)
 
 	// enable S3 compatible signature v2 signing instead