diff --git a/dev-tools/xtask/src/live_tests.rs b/dev-tools/xtask/src/live_tests.rs
index 35d40343ee..4f9a80335d 100644
--- a/dev-tools/xtask/src/live_tests.rs
+++ b/dev-tools/xtask/src/live_tests.rs
@@ -134,8 +134,11 @@ pub fn run_cmd(_args: Args) -> Result<()> {
     // TMPDIR=/var/tmp puts stuff on disk, cached as needed, rather than the
     // default /tmp which requires that stuff be in-memory.  That can lead to
     // great sadness if the tests wind up writing a lot of data.
+    //
+    // --bound=all is required to cause nextest to *not* ignore these tests,
+    // since they're not in the default filter set.
     let raw = &[
-        "TMPDIR=/var/tmp ./cargo-nextest nextest run \\",
+        "TMPDIR=/var/tmp ./cargo-nextest nextest run --bound=all \\",
         &format!(
             "--archive-file {}/{} \\",
             NAME,
diff --git a/live-tests/README.adoc b/live-tests/README.adoc
index 9ea3a93e48..5ce9472b05 100644
--- a/live-tests/README.adoc
+++ b/live-tests/README.adoc
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ To use this:
 
 4. On that system, run tests with:
 
-     TMPDIR=/var/tmp ./cargo-nextest nextest run \
+     TMPDIR=/var/tmp ./cargo-nextest nextest run --bound=all \
          --archive-file live-tests-archive/omicron-live-tests.tar.zst \
          --workspace-remap live-tests-archive
 ```