diff --git a/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix b/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
index 56cded54d861..fed532fc1649 100644
--- a/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/build-support/vm/default.nix
@@ -307,8 +307,8 @@ let
       ${virtiofsd}/bin/virtiofsd --xattr --socket-path virtio-xchg.sock --sandbox none --seccomp none --shared-dir xchg &
 
       # Wait until virtiofsd has created these sockets to avoid race condition.
-      until [[ -e virtio-store.sock ]]; do ${coreutils}/bin/sleep 1; done
-      until [[ -e virtio-xchg.sock ]]; do ${coreutils}/bin/sleep 1; done
+      until [[ -e virtio-store.sock ]]; do ${coreutils}/bin/sleep 0.1; done
+      until [[ -e virtio-xchg.sock ]]; do ${coreutils}/bin/sleep 0.1; done
 
       ${qemuCommand}
       EOF