diff --git a/test/test-functions b/test/test-functions
index ead815f2fa..ee2dca64f8 100644
--- a/test/test-functions
+++ b/test/test-functions
@@ -919,6 +919,12 @@ install_config_files() {
 
     # set the hostname
     echo systemd-testsuite > $initdir/etc/hostname
+
+    # let's set up just one image with the traditional verbose output
+    if [ ${IMAGE_NAME} != "basic" ]; then
+        mkdir -p $initdir/etc/systemd/system.conf.d
+        echo -e '[Manager]\nStatusUnitFormat=name' >$initdir/etc/systemd/system.conf.d/status.conf
+    fi
 }
 
 install_basic_tools() {