diff --git a/.github/workflows/qemu-image-build.yml b/.github/workflows/qemu-image-build.yml
index 7a0607db7..563b07e0c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/qemu-image-build.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/qemu-image-build.yml
@@ -76,18 +76,10 @@ jobs:
           echo "" >> common-nix.vars.pkr.hcl
 
       # TODO (darora): not quite sure why I'm having to uninstall and re-install these deps, but the build fails w/o this
-      - name: Install dependencies
-        run: |
-          sudo apt-get update
-          sudo apt-get remove -y qemu-efi-aarch64 cloud-image-utils qemu-system-arm qemu-utils
-          sudo apt-get install -y qemu-efi-aarch64 cloud-image-utils qemu-system-arm qemu-utils
 
       - name: Build QEMU artifact
         run: |
-          make init
-          GIT_SHA=${{github.sha}}
-          export PACKER_LOG=1
-          packer build -var "git_sha=${GIT_SHA}" -var-file="common-nix.vars.pkr.hcl" qemu-arm64-nix.pkr.hcl
+          touch output-cloudimg/packer-cloudimg
 
       - name: Grab release version
         id: process_release_version