diff --git a/tests/common/libvm.sh b/tests/common/libvm.sh
index 25f349e8bf..c5bf52008e 100644
--- a/tests/common/libvm.sh
+++ b/tests/common/libvm.sh
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ vm_kola_spawn() {
     exit 1
   fi
   setpriv --pdeathsig SIGKILL -- \
-    env MANTLE_SSH_DIR="$PWD/kola-ssh" kola spawn -p qemu-unpriv \
+    env MANTLE_SSH_DIR="$PWD/kola-ssh" kola spawn -p qemu \
     --qemu-image "$test_image" -v --idle \
     --json-info-fd 4 --output-dir "$outputdir" &
   # hack; need cleaner API for async kola spawn
diff --git a/tests/vm.sh b/tests/vm.sh
index a54f85d8a4..996f67304f 100755
--- a/tests/vm.sh
+++ b/tests/vm.sh
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ spawn_vm() {
     exec 4> .kolavm/info.json
 
     env MANTLE_SSH_DIR="$PWD/.kolavm/ssh" \
-        kola spawn -k -p qemu-unpriv \
+        kola spawn -k -p qemu \
             --qemu-image "$image" -v --idle \
             --json-info-fd 4 --output-dir "$PWD/.kolavm/output" &