diff --git a/nixos/tests/podman/default.nix b/nixos/tests/podman/default.nix
index 164f769b1fb0..3975d176f64e 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/podman/default.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/podman/default.nix
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ import ../make-test-python.nix (
           boot.supportedFilesystems = [ "zfs" ];
           networking.hostId = "00000000";
         };
+      rootful_norunc =
+        { pkgs, ... }:
+        {
+          virtualisation.podman.enable = true;
+          virtualisation.podman.extraRuntimes = [ ];
+        };
       rootless =
         { pkgs, ... }:
         {
@@ -80,6 +86,7 @@ import ../make-test-python.nix (
 
 
       rootful.wait_for_unit("sockets.target")
+      rootful_norunc.wait_for_unit("sockets.target")
       rootless.wait_for_unit("sockets.target")
       dns.wait_for_unit("sockets.target")
       docker.wait_for_unit("sockets.target")
@@ -112,6 +119,31 @@ import ../make-test-python.nix (
           rootful.succeed("podman stop sleeping")
           rootful.succeed("podman rm sleeping")
 
+      # now without installed runc
+      with subtest("Run runc-less container as root with runc"):
+          rootful_norunc.succeed("tar cv --files-from /dev/null | podman import - scratchimg")
+          rootful_norunc.fail(
+              "podman run --runtime=runc -d --name=sleeping -v /nix/store:/nix/store -v /run/current-system/sw/bin:/bin scratchimg /bin/sleep 10"
+          )
+
+      with subtest("Run runc-less container as root with crun"):
+          rootful_norunc.succeed("tar cv --files-from /dev/null | podman import - scratchimg")
+          rootful_norunc.succeed(
+              "podman run --runtime=crun -d --name=sleeping -v /nix/store:/nix/store -v /run/current-system/sw/bin:/bin scratchimg /bin/sleep 10"
+          )
+          rootful_norunc.succeed("podman ps | grep sleeping")
+          rootful_norunc.succeed("podman stop sleeping")
+          rootful_norunc.succeed("podman rm sleeping")
+
+      with subtest("Run runc-less container as root with the default backend"):
+          rootful_norunc.succeed("tar cv --files-from /dev/null | podman import - scratchimg")
+          rootful_norunc.succeed(
+              "podman run -d --name=sleeping -v /nix/store:/nix/store -v /run/current-system/sw/bin:/bin scratchimg /bin/sleep 10"
+          )
+          rootful_norunc.succeed("podman ps | grep sleeping")
+          rootful_norunc.succeed("podman stop sleeping")
+          rootful_norunc.succeed("podman rm sleeping")
+
       # start systemd session for rootless
       rootless.succeed("loginctl enable-linger alice")
       rootless.succeed(su_cmd("whoami"))