diff --git a/tests/storage-vm b/tests/storage-vm
index 754112b57..95d53b5d9 100755
--- a/tests/storage-vm
+++ b/tests/storage-vm
@@ -566,9 +566,20 @@ for poolDriver in $poolDriverList; do
                 echo "==> VM Generation ID in LXD config does not match VM Generation ID in QEMU process"
                 false
         fi
-
         lxc delete -f v1
 
+        echo "==> Publishing VM to image"
+        lxc init "${TEST_IMG:-ubuntu-minimal-daily:22.04}" v1 --vm -s "${poolName}"
+        lxc storage volume create "${poolName}" images
+        lxc config set storage.images_volume "${poolName}"/images
+        lxc publish v1 --alias v1image
+        lxc launch v1image v2 -s "${poolName}"
+        waitInstanceReady v2
+        lxc delete v1 v2 -f
+        lxc image delete v1image
+        lxc config unset storage.images_volume
+        lxc storage volume delete "${poolName}" images
+
         if hasNeededAPIExtension instances_migration_stateful; then
                 echo "==> Checking setting instances.migration.stateful for VMs"
                 # Check that migration.stateful is set in the instance's expanded config to the value of `instances.migration.stateful`
diff --git a/tests/storage-volumes-vm b/tests/storage-volumes-vm
index 7153d0a45..9efe72b9c 100755
--- a/tests/storage-volumes-vm
+++ b/tests/storage-volumes-vm
@@ -146,17 +146,6 @@ do
 	lxc storage volume detach "${poolName}" vol3 v1
 	lxc storage volume detach "${poolName}" vol6 v1 || true  # optional ISO
 
-	echo "==> Publishing VM to image"
-	lxc storage volume create "${poolName}" images --project=default
-	lxc config set storage.images_volume "${poolName}"/images
-	lxc publish v1 --alias v1image
-	lxc launch v1image v2 -s "${poolName}"
-	waitInstanceReady v2
-	lxc delete v2 -f
-	lxc image delete v1image
-	lxc config unset storage.images_volume
-	lxc storage volume delete "${poolName}" images --project=default
-
 	echo "==> Deleting VM"
 	lxc delete v1