diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner.py
index 3d612bd6ec0f..950bff768ef4 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner.py
@@ -586,6 +586,16 @@ def _check_and_add_missing_options(options):
   elif debug_options.lookup_experiment('enable_prime'):
     dataflow_service_options.append('enable_prime')
 
+  sdk_location = options.view_as(SetupOptions).sdk_location
+  if 'dev' in beam.version.__version__ and sdk_location == 'default':
+    raise ValueError(
+        "When launching Dataflow Jobs with an unreleased SDK, "
+        "please provide an SDK distribution in the --sdk_location option "
+        "to use consistent SDK version at "
+        "pipeline submission and runtime. To ignore this error and use the "
+        "SDK installed in Dataflow dev containers, use "
+        "--sdk_location=container.")
+
   # Streaming only supports using runner v2 (aka unified worker).
   # Runner v2 only supports using streaming engine (aka windmill service)
   if options.view_as(StandardOptions).streaming:
diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner_test.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner_test.py
index b58531acc6a9..6258aa8f213b 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner_test.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/dataflow/dataflow_runner_test.py
@@ -501,7 +501,7 @@ def expand(self, pcoll):
     self.assertIn(packed_step_name, transform_names)
 
   def test_batch_is_runner_v2(self):
-    options = PipelineOptions()
+    options = PipelineOptions(['--sdk_location=container'])
     _check_and_add_missing_options(options)
     for expected in ['beam_fn_api',
                      'use_unified_worker',
@@ -512,7 +512,7 @@ def test_batch_is_runner_v2(self):
           expected)
 
   def test_streaming_is_runner_v2(self):
-    options = PipelineOptions(['--streaming'])
+    options = PipelineOptions(['--sdk_location=container', '--streaming'])
     _check_and_add_missing_options(options)
     for expected in ['beam_fn_api',
                      'use_unified_worker',
@@ -525,7 +525,11 @@ def test_streaming_is_runner_v2(self):
           expected)
 
   def test_dataflow_service_options_enable_prime_sets_runner_v2(self):
-    options = PipelineOptions(['--dataflow_service_options=enable_prime'])
+    options = PipelineOptions([
+        '--sdk_location=container',
+        '--streaming',
+        '--dataflow_service_options=enable_prime'
+    ])
     _check_and_add_missing_options(options)
     for expected in ['beam_fn_api',
                      'use_unified_worker',
@@ -535,8 +539,11 @@ def test_dataflow_service_options_enable_prime_sets_runner_v2(self):
           options.view_as(DebugOptions).lookup_experiment(expected, False),
           expected)
 
-    options = PipelineOptions(
-        ['--streaming', '--dataflow_service_options=enable_prime'])
+    options = PipelineOptions([
+        '--sdk_location=container',
+        '--streaming',
+        '--dataflow_service_options=enable_prime'
+    ])
     _check_and_add_missing_options(options)
     for expected in ['beam_fn_api',
                      'use_unified_worker',
diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/portability/stager.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/portability/stager.py
index 1f093b1d7bc3..ace573de0a62 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/portability/stager.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/runners/portability/stager.py
@@ -594,11 +594,9 @@ def _create_extra_packages(extra_packages, temp_dir):
             '".tar", ".tar.gz", ".whl" or ".zip" instead of %s' % package)
       if os.path.basename(package).endswith('.whl'):
         _LOGGER.warning(
-            'The .whl package "%s" is provided in --extra_package. '
-            'This functionality is not officially supported. Since wheel '
-            'packages are binary distributions, this package must be '
-            'binary-compatible with the worker environment (e.g. Python 2.7 '
-            'running on an x64 Linux host).' % package)
+            'The .whl package "%s" provided in --extra_package '
+            'must be binary-compatible with the worker runtime environment.' %
+            package)
 
       if not os.path.isfile(package):
         if Stager._is_remote_path(package):