diff --git a/automation/scripts/qemu-alpine-arm64.sh b/automation/scripts/qemu-alpine-arm64.sh
index f4ac2d856f..e191de3765 100755
--- a/automation/scripts/qemu-alpine-arm64.sh
+++ b/automation/scripts/qemu-alpine-arm64.sh
@@ -2,14 +2,6 @@
 
 set -ex
 
-apt-get -qy update
-apt-get -qy install --no-install-recommends u-boot-qemu \
-                                            u-boot-tools \
-                                            device-tree-compiler \
-                                            cpio \
-                                            curl \
-                                            busybox-static
-
 # DomU Busybox
 cd binaries
 mkdir -p initrd
diff --git a/automation/scripts/qemu-alpine-x86_64.sh b/automation/scripts/qemu-alpine-x86_64.sh
index 2e9625109c..8c8d0b0cd7 100755
--- a/automation/scripts/qemu-alpine-x86_64.sh
+++ b/automation/scripts/qemu-alpine-x86_64.sh
@@ -2,10 +2,6 @@
 
 set -ex
 
-apt-get -qy update
-apt-get -qy install --no-install-recommends cpio \
-                                            busybox-static
-
 # DomU Busybox
 cd binaries
 mkdir -p initrd
diff --git a/automation/scripts/qemu-smoke-arm32.sh b/automation/scripts/qemu-smoke-arm32.sh
index c8ae0bfb9b..5da9533bcf 100755
--- a/automation/scripts/qemu-smoke-arm32.sh
+++ b/automation/scripts/qemu-smoke-arm32.sh
@@ -2,12 +2,6 @@
 
 set -ex
 
-export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
-apt-get -qy update
-apt-get -qy install --no-install-recommends device-tree-compiler \
-                                            curl \
-                                            cpio
-
 cd binaries
 # Use the kernel from Debian
 curl --fail --silent --show-error --location --output vmlinuz http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/bullseye/main/installer-armhf/current/images/netboot/vmlinuz
diff --git a/automation/scripts/qemu-smoke-arm64.sh b/automation/scripts/qemu-smoke-arm64.sh
index 5b566072f7..80ec2b12f4 100755
--- a/automation/scripts/qemu-smoke-arm64.sh
+++ b/automation/scripts/qemu-smoke-arm64.sh
@@ -38,15 +38,6 @@ fi
 "
 fi
 
-export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
-apt-get -qy update
-apt-get -qy install --no-install-recommends u-boot-qemu \
-                                            u-boot-tools \
-                                            device-tree-compiler \
-                                            busybox-static \
-                                            cpio \
-                                            curl
-
 # XXX QEMU looks for "efi-virtio.rom" even if it is unneeded
 curl -fsSLO https://github.com/qemu/qemu/raw/v5.2.0/pc-bios/efi-virtio.rom
 ./binaries/qemu-system-aarch64 \