diff --git a/tools/run_tests/python_utils/port_server.py b/tools/run_tests/python_utils/port_server.py
index 079ed70fbf3..10e9cf4c1a1 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/python_utils/port_server.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/python_utils/port_server.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python2.7
 # Copyright 2015, Google Inc.
 # All rights reserved.
 #
@@ -30,8 +30,6 @@
 
 """Manage TCP ports for unit tests; started by run_tests.py"""
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import argparse
 from BaseHTTPServer import HTTPServer, BaseHTTPRequestHandler
 import hashlib
@@ -42,6 +40,7 @@ import time
 import random
 from SocketServer import ThreadingMixIn
 import threading
+import platform
 
 
 # increment this number whenever making a change to ensure that
@@ -51,7 +50,7 @@ _MY_VERSION = 19
 
 
 if len(sys.argv) == 2 and sys.argv[1] == 'dump_version':
-  print(_MY_VERSION)
+  print _MY_VERSION
   sys.exit(0)
 
 
@@ -67,13 +66,16 @@ if args.logfile is not None:
   sys.stderr = open(args.logfile, 'w')
   sys.stdout = sys.stderr
 
-print('port server running on port %d' % args.port)
+print 'port server running on port %d' % args.port
 
 pool = []
 in_use = {}
 mu = threading.Lock()
 
 def can_connect(port):
+  # this test is only really useful on unices where SO_REUSE_PORT is available
+  # so on Windows, where this test is expensive, skip it
+  if platform.system() == 'Windows': return False
   s = socket.socket()
   try:
     s.connect(('localhost', port))
@@ -137,7 +139,7 @@ keep_running = True
 
 
 class Handler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
-  
+
   def setup(self):
     # If the client is unreachable for 5 seconds, close the connection
     self.timeout = 5
@@ -195,6 +197,4 @@ class Handler(BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
 class ThreadedHTTPServer(ThreadingMixIn, HTTPServer):
   """Handle requests in a separate thread"""
 
-
 ThreadedHTTPServer(('', args.port), Handler).serve_forever()
-
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/python_utils/start_port_server.py b/tools/run_tests/python_utils/start_port_server.py
index deb73544388..4acc964c7b1 100644
--- a/tools/run_tests/python_utils/start_port_server.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/python_utils/start_port_server.py
@@ -27,9 +27,7 @@
 # (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
 # OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
-from six.moves import urllib
+import urllib
 import jobset
 import logging
 import os
@@ -50,9 +48,9 @@ def start_port_server():
     # otherwise, leave it up
     try:
         version = int(
-            urllib.request.urlopen(
-                'http://localhost:%d/version_number' % _PORT_SERVER_PORT,
-                timeout=10).read())
+            urllib.urlopen(
+                'http://localhost:%d/version_number' %
+                _PORT_SERVER_PORT).read())
         logging.info('detected port server running version %d', version)
         running = True
     except Exception as e:
@@ -69,8 +67,8 @@ def start_port_server():
         running = (version >= current_version)
         if not running:
             logging.info('port_server version mismatch: killing the old one')
-            urllib.request.urlopen('http://localhost:%d/quitquitquit' %
-                                   _PORT_SERVER_PORT).read()
+            urllib.urlopen('http://localhost:%d/quitquitquit' %
+                           _PORT_SERVER_PORT).read()
             time.sleep(1)
     if not running:
         fd, logfile = tempfile.mkstemp()
@@ -109,9 +107,8 @@ def start_port_server():
                 # try one final time: maybe another build managed to start one
                 time.sleep(1)
                 try:
-                    urllib.request.urlopen(
-                        'http://localhost:%d/get' % _PORT_SERVER_PORT,
-                        timeout=1).read()
+                    urllib.urlopen(
+                        'http://localhost:%d/get' % _PORT_SERVER_PORT).read()
                     logging.info(
                         'last ditch attempt to contact port server succeeded')
                     break
@@ -119,18 +116,18 @@ def start_port_server():
                     logging.exception(
                         'final attempt to contact port server failed')
                     port_log = open(logfile, 'r').read()
-                    print(port_log)
+                    print port_log
                     sys.exit(1)
             try:
                 port_server_url = 'http://localhost:%d/get' % _PORT_SERVER_PORT
-                urllib.request.urlopen(port_server_url, timeout=1).read()
+                urllib.urlopen(port_server_url).read()
                 logging.info('port server is up and ready')
                 break
             except socket.timeout:
                 logging.exception('while waiting for port_server')
                 time.sleep(1)
                 waits += 1
-            except urllib.error.URLError:
+            except IOError:
                 logging.exception('while waiting for port_server')
                 time.sleep(1)
                 waits += 1
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/start_port_server.py b/tools/run_tests/start_port_server.py
index bfd72222b66..f7c9f43665e 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/start_port_server.py
+++ b/tools/run_tests/start_port_server.py
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env python
+#!/usr/bin/env python2.7
 
 # Copyright 2017, Google Inc.
 # All rights reserved.
@@ -39,10 +39,8 @@ The path to this file is called out in test/core/util/port.c, and printed as
 an error message to users.
 """
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
 import python_utils.start_port_server as start_port_server
 
 start_port_server.start_port_server()
 
-print("Port server started successfully")
+print "Port server started successfully"