diff --git a/tests/storage-vm b/tests/storage-vm
index 43ead1a5..228c3ab2 100755
--- a/tests/storage-vm
+++ b/tests/storage-vm
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ for poolDriver in $poolDriverList; do
 
         # Ensure non-power-of-two sizes are rounded appropriately for zfs
         if [ "${poolDriver}" = "zfs" ]; then
-                lxc init "${IMAGE}" rounded --vm -s "${poolName}" -d root,size=13GB
+                lxc init --empty rounded --vm -s "${poolName}" -d root,size=13GB
                 lxc delete rounded
         fi
 
@@ -594,24 +594,24 @@ for poolDriver in $poolDriverList; do
                 # if no local instance config nor profile value of `migration.stateful` is set.
 
                 lxc config set instances.migration.stateful=true
-                lxc init "${IMAGE}" v1 --vm -s "${poolName}"
-
+                lxc init --empty v1 --vm -s "${poolName}"
                 [ "$(lxc query /1.0/instances/v1 | jq -r '.expanded_config["migration.stateful"]')" = true ]
                 lxc delete v1 -f
+
                 lxc config set instances.migration.stateful=false
-                lxc init "${IMAGE}" v1 --vm -s "${poolName}"
+                lxc init --empty v1 --vm -s "${poolName}"
                 [ -z "$(lxc config get --expanded v1 migration.stateful)" ] # instances.migration.stateful leave it unset because since it is `false`, it is the same as the default value of `migration.stateful`.
                 lxc delete v1 -f
 
                 lxc config set instances.migration.stateful=true
-                lxc init "${IMAGE}" v1 --vm --config migration.stateful=false -s "${poolName}"
+                lxc init --empty v1 --vm --config migration.stateful=false -s "${poolName}"
                 [ "$(lxc query /1.0/instances/v1 | jq -r '.expanded_config["migration.stateful"]')" = "false" ] # the instance local config should take precedence
                 lxc delete v1 -f
 
                 lxc config set instances.migration.stateful=false
                 lxc profile copy default stateful_profile
                 lxc profile set stateful_profile migration.stateful=true
-                lxc init "${IMAGE}" v1 --vm -p stateful_profile -s "${poolName}"
+                lxc init --empty v1 --vm -p stateful_profile -s "${poolName}"
                 [ "$(lxc query /1.0/instances/v1 | jq -r '.expanded_config["migration.stateful"]')" = "true" ] # the profile config should take precedence
                 lxc delete v1 -f
                 lxc profile delete stateful_profile