diff --git a/.github/actions/create-guest-image/action.yml b/.github/actions/create-guest-image/action.yml
index 48d6615d4..55a8a5bb2 100644
--- a/.github/actions/create-guest-image/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/create-guest-image/action.yml
@@ -2,9 +2,6 @@ name: 'Create guest image'
 description: 'Create VM guest image on Ubuntu runner'
 
 inputs:
-  packages:
-    description: 'Packages to install in guest image'
-    required: true
   distro:
     description: 'Linux distribution to use for guest image'
     required: false
@@ -35,6 +32,8 @@ runs:
           --append-line '/etc/environment:GITHUB_REPOSITORY=${{ github.repository }}' \
           --append-line '/etc/environment:GITHUB_REF=${{ github.ref }}' \
           --append-line '/etc/environment:GITHUB_SHA=${{ github.sha }}' \
-          --install ${{ inputs.packages }}
+          --append-line '/etc/environment:CI_TARGET_BUILD=${{ env.CI_TARGET_BUILD }}' \
+          --append-line '/etc/environment:CI_TARGET_OS=${{ env.CI_TARGET_OS }}'
+
       shell: bash
 
diff --git a/.github/actions/start-vm/action.yml b/.github/actions/start-vm/action.yml
index 77e2a6ac7..5f69e33ee 100644
--- a/.github/actions/start-vm/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/start-vm/action.yml
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ inputs:
   host_key: # If true add guest host key to known_hosts
     required: false
     default: "false"
+  install_fio_deps: # If true install dependencies for building fio
+    required: false
+    default: "false"
   build_fio: # If true clone and build fio on guest
     required: false
     default: "false"
@@ -57,12 +60,32 @@ runs:
       shell: bash
       env:
         SSHCMD: ssh root@localhost -p ${{ inputs.ssh_fwd_port }}
-    - name: Clone and build fio on guest # fake a GHA environment to use checkout-action
+    - name: Clone fio on guest # fake a GHA environment to use checkout-action
       run: |
         if echo ${{ inputs.build_fio }} | grep -c "true"
         then
+          $SSHCMD "apt-get install -qq git"
           $SSHCMD "git clone https://github.com/taiki-e/checkout-action --branch v1.3.0"
-          $SSHCMD "mkdir fio && cd fio && ../checkout-action/main.sh && git log -1 && make -j $(nproc)"
+          $SSHCMD "mkdir fio && cd fio && ../checkout-action/main.sh && git log -1"
+        fi
+      shell: bash
+      env:
+        SSHCMD: ssh root@localhost -p ${{ inputs.ssh_fwd_port }}
+    - name: Install fio dependencies # fake a GHA environment
+      run: |
+        if echo ${{ inputs.build_fio }} | grep -c "true"
+        then
+          $SSHCMD "apt install -qq sudo"
+          $SSHCMD "cd fio && ./ci/actions-install.sh"
+        fi
+      shell: bash
+      env:
+        SSHCMD: ssh root@localhost -p ${{ inputs.ssh_fwd_port }}
+    - name: Build fio on guest
+      run: |
+        if echo ${{ inputs.build_fio }} | grep -c "true"
+        then
+          $SSHCMD "cd fio && git log -1 && make -j $(nproc)"
         fi
       shell: bash
       env:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/qemu.yml b/.github/workflows/qemu.yml
index 17aae85e3..a1f986b0c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/qemu.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/qemu.yml
@@ -46,8 +46,9 @@ jobs:
 
     env:
       DISTRO: debian-12
-      PKGS: git,libaio-dev,libcunit1-dev,libcurl4-openssl-dev,libfl-dev,libnuma-dev,libnfs-dev,valgrind,libglusterfs-dev,libgoogle-perftools-dev,libiscsi-dev,libnbd-dev,libpmem-dev,libpmem2-dev,libprotobuf-c-dev,librbd-dev,libtcmalloc-minimal4,libibverbs-dev,librdmacm-dev,nvme-cli,pkgconf,python3-scipy,python3-sphinx,python3-statsmodels,bison,build-essential,cmake,flex,unzip,wget,zlib1g-dev,sudo
       SSHCMD: ssh root@localhost -p 2022
+      CI_TARGET_BUILD: linux
+      CI_TARGET_OS: debian
 
     steps:
     - name: Check out repository
@@ -57,18 +58,19 @@ jobs:
       uses: ./.github/actions/create-guest-image
       with:
         distro: ${{ env.DISTRO }}
-        packages: ${{ env.PKGS }}
 
     - name: Build and install QEMU
       uses: ./.github/actions/build-qemu
 
     - name: Create backing file for NVMe device
       run: truncate -s 1G nvme0.img
+
     - name: Start VM and clone/build fio
       uses: ./.github/actions/start-vm
       with:
         image: ${{ env.DISTRO }}.img
         host_key: true
+        install_fio_deps: true
         build_fio: true
         options: ${{ matrix.device }}