diff --git a/cmake/onnxruntime_unittests.cmake b/cmake/onnxruntime_unittests.cmake
index 17a40bdd9d91d..05d10b110578c 100644
--- a/cmake/onnxruntime_unittests.cmake
+++ b/cmake/onnxruntime_unittests.cmake
@@ -220,6 +220,7 @@ endif()
 
 set (ONNXRUNTIME_SHARED_LIB_TEST_SRC_DIR "${ONNXRUNTIME_ROOT}/test/shared_lib")
 set (ONNXRUNTIME_GLOBAL_THREAD_POOLS_TEST_SRC_DIR "${ONNXRUNTIME_ROOT}/test/global_thread_pools")
+set (ONNXRUNTIME_API_TESTS_WITHOUT_ENV_SRC_DIR "${ONNXRUNTIME_ROOT}/test/api_tests_without_env")
 
 set (onnxruntime_shared_lib_test_SRC
           ${ONNXRUNTIME_SHARED_LIB_TEST_SRC_DIR}/test_fixture.h
@@ -238,6 +239,9 @@ set (onnxruntime_global_thread_pools_test_SRC
           ${ONNXRUNTIME_GLOBAL_THREAD_POOLS_TEST_SRC_DIR}/test_main.cc
           ${ONNXRUNTIME_GLOBAL_THREAD_POOLS_TEST_SRC_DIR}/test_inference.cc)
 
+set (onnxruntime_api_tests_without_env_SRC
+          ${ONNXRUNTIME_API_TESTS_WITHOUT_ENV_SRC_DIR}/test_apis_without_env.cc)
+
 # tests from lowest level library up.
 # the order of libraries should be maintained, with higher libraries being added first in the list
 
@@ -763,6 +767,16 @@ if (onnxruntime_BUILD_SHARED_LIB)
           DEPENDS ${all_dependencies}
   )
   endif()
+
+ # A separate test is needed to test the APIs that don't rely on the env being created first.
+  if (NOT CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME STREQUAL "Android")
+  AddTest(DYN
+          TARGET onnxruntime_api_tests_without_env
+          SOURCES ${onnxruntime_api_tests_without_env_SRC}
+          LIBS ${onnxruntime_shared_lib_test_LIBS}
+          DEPENDS ${all_dependencies}
+  )
+  endif()
 endif()
 
 #some ETW tools
diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/framework/provider_bridge_ort.cc b/onnxruntime/core/framework/provider_bridge_ort.cc
index 9c5c26dea0634..a4444f828f00b 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/framework/provider_bridge_ort.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/framework/provider_bridge_ort.cc
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 #include "core/framework/data_types.h"
 #include "core/framework/allocatormgr.h"
 #include "core/providers/dnnl/dnnl_provider_factory.h"
+#include "core/session/inference_session.h"
 #include "core/session/abi_session_options_impl.h"
 #include "core/session/ort_apis.h"
 #include "core/platform/env.h"
diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/framework/sequential_executor.cc b/onnxruntime/core/framework/sequential_executor.cc
index 1bd20e7b4a9e4..b0ed0120fc4a6 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/framework/sequential_executor.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/framework/sequential_executor.cc
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ static void CalculateTotalOutputSizes(OpKernelContextInternal* op_kernel_context
   ORT_UNUSED_PARAMETER(node_name);
   for (auto i = 0; i < op_kernel_context->OutputCount(); i++) {
     const OrtValue* p_output = op_kernel_context->GetOutputMLValue(i);
-    if (p_output->IsTensor()) {
+    if (p_output != nullptr && p_output->IsTensor()) {
       const auto& tensor = p_output->Get<Tensor>();
       size_t tensor_size = tensor.SizeInBytes();
 #if defined(TRACE_EXECUTION)
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ static void CalculateTotalInputSizes(const OpKernelContextInternal* op_kernel_co
   const int input_count = op_kernel_context->InputCount();
   for (auto i = 0; i < input_count; i++) {
     const OrtValue* p_input = op_kernel_context->GetInputMLValue(i);
-    if (p_input->IsTensor()) {
+    if (p_input != nullptr && p_input->IsTensor()) {
       const OpKernelInfo& op_kernel_info = p_op_kernel->Info();
       const Tensor* p_tensor = nullptr;
       bool is_param = op_kernel_info.TryGetConstantInput(i, &p_tensor);
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ Status SequentialExecutor::Execute(const SessionState& session_state, const std:
 
     const std::string node_name_for_profiling = [&]() -> std::string {
       if (!is_profiler_enabled) return {};
-      // Derive something meaningful for profile traces and logs if node name field is blank in execution graph 
+      // Derive something meaningful for profile traces and logs if node name field is blank in execution graph
       return node.Name().empty() ? MakeString(node.OpType(), "_", node_index) : node.Name();
     }();
 
diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/session/abi_session_options.cc b/onnxruntime/core/session/abi_session_options.cc
index 0f66c520e0429..2dce6c93452ff 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/session/abi_session_options.cc
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/session/abi_session_options.cc
@@ -144,9 +144,12 @@ ORT_API_STATUS_IMPL(OrtApis::SetIntraOpNumThreads, _Inout_ OrtSessionOptions* op
 #ifdef _OPENMP
   ORT_UNUSED_PARAMETER(options);
   ORT_UNUSED_PARAMETER(intra_op_num_threads);
-  LOGS_DEFAULT(WARNING) << "Since openmp is enabled in this build, this API cannot be used to configure"
-                           " intra op num threads. Please use the openmp environment variables to control"
-                           " the number of threads.";
+  // Can't use the default logger here since it's possible that the default logger has not been created
+  // at this point. The default logger gets created when the env is created and these APIs don't require
+  // the env to be created first.
+  std::cout << "WARNING: Since openmp is enabled in this build, this API cannot be used to configure"
+               " intra op num threads. Please use the openmp environment variables to control"
+               " the number of threads.\n";
 #else
   options->value.intra_op_param.thread_pool_size = intra_op_num_threads;
 #endif
@@ -161,16 +164,14 @@ ORT_API_STATUS_IMPL(OrtApis::SetInterOpNumThreads, _Inout_ OrtSessionOptions* op
 ORT_API_STATUS_IMPL(OrtApis::AddFreeDimensionOverride, _Inout_ OrtSessionOptions* options,
                     _In_ const char* dim_denotation, _In_ int64_t dim_value) {
   options->value.free_dimension_overrides.push_back(
-      onnxruntime::FreeDimensionOverride{dim_denotation, onnxruntime::FreeDimensionOverrideType::Denotation, dim_value}
-  );
+      onnxruntime::FreeDimensionOverride{dim_denotation, onnxruntime::FreeDimensionOverrideType::Denotation, dim_value});
   return nullptr;
 }
 
 ORT_API_STATUS_IMPL(OrtApis::AddFreeDimensionOverrideByName, _Inout_ OrtSessionOptions* options,
                     _In_ const char* dim_name, _In_ int64_t dim_value) {
   options->value.free_dimension_overrides.push_back(
-      onnxruntime::FreeDimensionOverride{dim_name, onnxruntime::FreeDimensionOverrideType::Name, dim_value}
-  );
+      onnxruntime::FreeDimensionOverride{dim_name, onnxruntime::FreeDimensionOverrideType::Name, dim_value});
   return nullptr;
 }
 
diff --git a/onnxruntime/core/session/abi_session_options_impl.h b/onnxruntime/core/session/abi_session_options_impl.h
index 2e87ea7e70219..f23bfbe195037 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/core/session/abi_session_options_impl.h
+++ b/onnxruntime/core/session/abi_session_options_impl.h
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <vector>
 #include <atomic>
-#include "core/session/inference_session.h"
+#include "core/framework/session_options.h"
 #include "core/session/onnxruntime_c_api.h"
 #include "core/providers/providers.h"
 
diff --git a/onnxruntime/test/api_tests_without_env/test_apis_without_env.cc b/onnxruntime/test/api_tests_without_env/test_apis_without_env.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..617f258851788
--- /dev/null
+++ b/onnxruntime/test/api_tests_without_env/test_apis_without_env.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
+// Licensed under the MIT License.
+
+#ifndef USE_ONNXRUNTIME_DLL
+#ifdef __GNUC__
+#pragma GCC diagnostic push
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wignored-qualifiers"
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wunused-parameter"
+#else
+#pragma warning(push)
+#pragma warning(disable : 4018) /*'expression' : signed/unsigned mismatch */
+#pragma warning(disable : 4065) /*switch statement contains 'default' but no 'case' labels*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4100)
+#pragma warning(disable : 4146) /*unary minus operator applied to unsigned type, result still unsigned*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4127)
+#pragma warning(disable : 4244)  /*'conversion' conversion from 'type1' to 'type2', possible loss of data*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4251)  /*'identifier' : class 'type' needs to have dll-interface to be used by clients of class 'type2'*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4267)  /*'var' : conversion from 'size_t' to 'type', possible loss of data*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4305)  /*'identifier' : truncation from 'type1' to 'type2'*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4307)  /*'operator' : integral constant overflow*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4309)  /*'conversion' : truncation of constant value*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4334)  /*'operator' : result of 32-bit shift implicitly converted to 64 bits (was 64-bit shift intended?)*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4355)  /*'this' : used in base member initializer list*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4506)  /*no definition for inline function 'function'*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4800)  /*'type' : forcing value to bool 'true' or 'false' (performance warning)*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 4996)  /*The compiler encountered a deprecated declaration.*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 6011)  /*Dereferencing NULL pointer*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 6387)  /*'value' could be '0'*/
+#pragma warning(disable : 26495) /*Variable is uninitialized.*/
+#endif
+#include <google/protobuf/message_lite.h>
+#ifdef __GNUC__
+#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
+#else
+#pragma warning(pop)
+#endif
+#endif
+
+#include "gtest/gtest.h"
+#include "core/session/onnxruntime_cxx_api.h"
+#include "core/session/abi_session_options_impl.h"
+
+TEST(TestSessionOptions, SetIntraOpNumThreadsWithoutEnv) {
+  Ort::SessionOptions session_options;
+  session_options.SetIntraOpNumThreads(48);
+  const auto* ort_session_options = (const OrtSessionOptions*)session_options;
+#ifdef _OPENMP
+  ASSERT_EQ(ort_session_options->value.intra_op_param.thread_pool_size, 0);
+#else
+  ASSERT_EQ(ort_session_options->value.intra_op_param.thread_pool_size, 48);
+#endif
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char** argv) {
+  int status = 0;
+  try {
+    ::testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv);
+    status = RUN_ALL_TESTS();
+  } catch (const std::exception& ex) {
+    std::cerr << ex.what();
+    status = -1;
+  }
+
+#ifndef USE_ONNXRUNTIME_DLL
+  //make memory leak checker happy
+  ::google::protobuf::ShutdownProtobufLibrary();
+#endif
+  return status;
+}
diff --git a/onnxruntime/test/shared_lib/test_fixture.h b/onnxruntime/test/shared_lib/test_fixture.h
index 51e4981fd22c7..37db4f3da8f56 100644
--- a/onnxruntime/test/shared_lib/test_fixture.h
+++ b/onnxruntime/test/shared_lib/test_fixture.h
@@ -16,4 +16,3 @@ typedef const char* PATH_TYPE;
 static inline void ORT_API_CALL MyLoggingFunction(void*, OrtLoggingLevel, const char*, const char*, const char*, const char*) {
 }
 
-
diff --git a/tools/ci_build/github/linux/docker/scripts/install_centos.sh b/tools/ci_build/github/linux/docker/scripts/install_centos.sh
index 0d041690fc199..f7c33e294ce9b 100755
--- a/tools/ci_build/github/linux/docker/scripts/install_centos.sh
+++ b/tools/ci_build/github/linux/docker/scripts/install_centos.sh
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ elif [ "$os_major_version" == "6" ] && [ ! -d "/opt/python/cp35-cp35m" ]; then
   #The base image we are using already contains devtoolset-2
   yum install -y redhat-lsb-core expat-devel libcurl-devel tar unzip curl zlib-devel make libunwind icu aria2 rsync bzip2 git bzip2-devel
   #Install python 3.6
-  yum install -y https://centos6.iuscommunity.org/ius-release.rpm 
+  yum install -y https://repo.ius.io/ius-release-el6.rpm
   yum --enablerepo=ius install -y python36u python36u-devel python36u-pip python36u-numpy python36u-setuptools python36u-wheel
   /usr/bin/python3.6 -m pip install --upgrade pip
 else