diff --git a/automation/build/ubuntu/xenial-xilinx.dockerfile b/automation/build/ubuntu/xenial-xilinx.dockerfile
deleted file mode 100644
index 6107d8b771..0000000000
--- a/automation/build/ubuntu/xenial-xilinx.dockerfile
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,27 +0,0 @@
-# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
-FROM --platform=linux/amd64 ubuntu:16.04
-LABEL maintainer.name="The Xen Project " \
-      maintainer.email="xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org"
-
-ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
-ENV USER root
-
-RUN mkdir /build
-WORKDIR /build
-
-# board bringup depends
-RUN apt-get update && \
-    apt-get --quiet --yes install \
-        snmp \
-        snmp-mibs-downloader \
-        u-boot-tools \
-        device-tree-compiler \
-        cpio \
-        git \
-        gzip \
-        file \
-        expect \
-        && \
-        apt-get autoremove -y && \
-        apt-get clean && \
-        rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists* /tmp/* /var/tmp/*
diff --git a/automation/build/ubuntu/xilinx-hw-runner.dockerfile b/automation/build/ubuntu/xilinx-hw-runner.dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1855b11af3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/automation/build/ubuntu/xilinx-hw-runner.dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# syntax=docker/dockerfile:1
+FROM --platform=linux/amd64 ubuntu:16.04
+LABEL maintainer.name="The Xen Project"
+LABEL maintainer.email="xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org"
+
+ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
+
+RUN <<EOF
+#!/bin/bash
+    set -e
+
+    apt-get update
+
+    DEPS=(
+        ca-certificates
+        cpio
+        device-tree-compiler
+        expect
+        file
+        git
+        gzip
+        snmp
+        snmp-mibs-downloader
+        u-boot-tools
+    )
+
+    apt-get -y --no-install-recommends install "${DEPS[@]}"
+    rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+EOF
+
+USER root
+WORKDIR /build
diff --git a/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml b/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml
index 1722800c15..89760b24e6 100644
--- a/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml
+++ b/automation/gitlab-ci/test.yaml
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@
 .xilinx-arm64:
   extends: .test-jobs-common
   variables:
-    CONTAINER: ubuntu:xenial-xilinx
+    CONTAINER: ubuntu:xilinx-hw-runner
     LOGFILE: qemu-smoke-xilinx.log
     TEST_TIMEOUT_OVERRIDE: 120
   artifacts:
@@ -124,7 +124,7 @@
 .xilinx-x86_64:
   extends: .test-jobs-common
   variables:
-    CONTAINER: ubuntu:xenial-xilinx
+    CONTAINER: ubuntu:xilinx-hw-runner
     LOGFILE: xilinx-smoke-x86_64.log
     XEN_CMD_CONSOLE: "console=com2 com2=57600,8n1,0x2F8,4"
     TEST_BOARD: "crater"