diff --git a/nix/vm-tests/agent-ephemeral-rootfs.nix b/nix/vm-tests/agent-ephemeral-rootfs.nix
index 9adcad22..e05a26de 100644
--- a/nix/vm-tests/agent-ephemeral-rootfs.nix
+++ b/nix/vm-tests/agent-ephemeral-rootfs.nix
@@ -344,7 +344,7 @@ pkgs.testers.runNixOSTest {
             host.succeed(f"stat -c %u:%g {NS_DIR}/{sub} | grep -x ${dataOwner}:${dataOwner}")
         host.succeed(f"stat -c %u:%g {NS_DIR}/state/pre.txt | grep -x ${dataOwner}:${dataOwner}")
         host.succeed(f"stat -c %u:%g {NS_DIR}/config/cfg | grep -x 0:0")
-        host.succeed(f"stat -c %u:%g ${nsSocketDir} | grep -x ${dataOwner}:${dataOwner}")
+        host.succeed("stat -c %u:%g ${nsSocketDir} | grep -x ${dataOwner}:${dataOwner}")
 
         boot_ns = lambda: (
             host.succeed(f"nixos-container start {NS}"),
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ pkgs.testers.runNixOSTest {
         host.fail(f"nixos-container run {NS} -- runuser -l {NS_AGENT} -c 'touch /agents/{NS_AGENT}/config/new'")
         # On disk the new file belongs to the data owner, not to a picked range.
         host.succeed(f"stat -c %u:%g {NS_DIR}/state/post.txt | grep -x ${dataOwner}:${dataOwner}")
-        host.succeed(f"stat -c %u:%g ${nsSocketDir}/web.sock | grep -x ${dataOwner}:${dataOwner}")
+        host.succeed("stat -c %u:%g ${nsSocketDir}/web.sock | grep -x ${dataOwner}:${dataOwner}")
         host.succeed(f"nixos-container run {NS} -- cat /proc/self/uid_map | grep -v ' 4294967295$'")
 
         # The move runs once: a file a host process leaves owned by 1000 after it
diff --git a/nix/vm-tests/swarm-builder-offline.nix b/nix/vm-tests/swarm-builder-offline.nix
index 8e48d9e9..340a233d 100644
--- a/nix/vm-tests/swarm-builder-offline.nix
+++ b/nix/vm-tests/swarm-builder-offline.nix
@@ -228,9 +228,9 @@ pkgs.testers.runNixOSTest {
         )
 
     with subtest("the toplevel is in the store before the build"):
-        machine.succeed(f"nix path-info {TOPLEVEL}")
+        machine.succeed(f"nix --extra-experimental-features nix-command path-info {TOPLEVEL}")
         # The control for the lookup: a path that is not there is not found.
-        machine.fail("nix path-info /nix/store/00000000000000000000000000000000-absent")
+        machine.fail("nix --extra-experimental-features nix-command path-info /nix/store/00000000000000000000000000000000-absent")
 
     with subtest("the builder's build finishes with nothing built"):
         status, _ = machine.execute(