diff --git a/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_vars_deployment.py b/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_vars_deployment.py
index 3f6515c59..88229028f 100644
--- a/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_vars_deployment.py
+++ b/pkgs/clan-cli/tests/test_vars_deployment.py
@@ -104,6 +104,9 @@ def test_vm_deployment(
         vm2 = stack.enter_context(spawn_vm(vm2_config, stdin=subprocess.DEVNULL))
         qga_m1 = stack.enter_context(vm1.qga_connect())
         qga_m2 = stack.enter_context(vm2.qga_connect())
+        # run these always succesfull commands to make sure all vms have started before continuing
+        qga_m1.run(["echo"])
+        qga_m2.run(["echo"])
         # check my_secret is deployed
         result = qga_m1.run(["cat", "/run/secrets/vars/m1_generator/my_secret"])
         assert result.stdout == "hello\n"