diff --git a/tests/containers/podman_quadlet.pm b/tests/containers/podman_quadlet.pm
index ff6aa0e8be3a..231f646368a8 100644
--- a/tests/containers/podman_quadlet.pm
+++ b/tests/containers/podman_quadlet.pm
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ sub run {
     systemctl("start $unit_name-build.service", timeout => 180);
     record_info('Build output', script_output("journalctl --no-pager -u $unit_name-build"));
 
-    systemctl("is-active $unit_name-build.service");
+    systemctl("is-active $unit_name-build.service", expect_false => 1);
     validate_script_output('podman images -n', qr/$build_imagetag/);
 
     # start the container