diff --git a/nixos/lib/testing/nixos-test-base.nix b/nixos/lib/testing/nixos-test-base.nix
index 65fe15c6162e..c8b15a0ecce4 100644
--- a/nixos/lib/testing/nixos-test-base.nix
+++ b/nixos/lib/testing/nixos-test-base.nix
@@ -23,10 +23,10 @@ in
       };
     }
     ({ config, ... }: {
-      # Don't pull in switch-to-configuration by default, except when specialisations are involved.
+      # Don't pull in switch-to-configuration by default, except when specialisations or early boot shenanigans are involved.
       # This is mostly a Hydra optimization, so we don't rebuild all the tests every time switch-to-configuration-ng changes.
       key = "no-switch-to-configuration";
-      system.switch.enable = mkDefault (config.isSpecialisation || config.specialisation != {});
+      system.switch.enable = mkDefault (config.isSpecialisation || config.specialisation != {} || config.virtualisation.installBootLoader);
     })
   ];
 }