diff --git a/test/check-cli b/test/check-cli
index e534b8e1..cecdfd5e 100755
--- a/test/check-cli
+++ b/test/check-cli
@@ -44,6 +44,10 @@ class TestQcow2(composertest.ComposerTestCase):
             # Boot the image
             self.setUpTestMachine(tmpdir + "/disk.qcow2", tmpdir + "/id_rsa")
 
+            # Upload SSH keys to the machine so we can use the existing assertions
+            # by ssh'ing to localhost
+            self.machine.upload([tmpdir + "/id_rsa", tmpdir + "/id_rsa.pub"], "/root/.ssh")
+
             # Upload the contents of the ./tests/ directory to the machine
             self.machine.upload(["../tests"], "/")
 
@@ -87,6 +91,10 @@ class TestTar(composertest.ComposerTestCase):
             # Boot the image, login using the ssh key
             self.setUpTestMachine(tmpdir + "/disk.img", tmpdir + "/id_rsa")
 
+            # Upload SSH keys to the machine so we can use the existing assertions
+            # by ssh'ing to localhost
+            self.machine.upload([tmpdir + "/id_rsa", tmpdir + "/id_rsa.pub"], "/root/.ssh")
+
             # Upload the contents of the ./tests/ directory to the machine
             self.machine.upload(["../tests"], "/")
 
diff --git a/tests/cli/lib/lib.sh b/tests/cli/lib/lib.sh
index 8fb6f437..8ceda561 100755
--- a/tests/cli/lib/lib.sh
+++ b/tests/cli/lib/lib.sh
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ check_root_account() {
     fi
 
     if [ $ROOT_ACCOUNT_LOCKED == 0 ]; then
-        rlRun -t -c "ssh $SSH_OPTS ${SSH_USER}@${SSH_MACHINE} \"sudo grep '^root::' /etc/shadow\"" \
+        rlRun -t -c "ssh $SSH_OPTS ${SSH_USER}@${SSH_MACHINE} \"sudo passwd --status root | grep -E '^root\s+NP?'\"" \
             0 "Password for root account in /etc/shadow is empty"
     else
         # ssh returns 255 in case of any ssh error, so it's better to grep the specific error message
diff --git a/tests/cli/test_boot_live-iso.sh b/tests/cli/test_boot_live-iso.sh
index ff3109eb..3f6e915a 100755
--- a/tests/cli/test_boot_live-iso.sh
+++ b/tests/cli/test_boot_live-iso.sh
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ set -e
 rlJournalStart
     rlPhaseStartTest "Verify live iso"
         # Just the fact that this is running means the image can boot and ssh is working
-        rlRun -t -c "passwd --status root | grep -E '^root\s+NP?'" 0 "root account has no password set"
+        ROOT_ACCOUNT_LOCKED=0 verify_image liveuser localhost "-p 22"
         rlAssertGrep "liveuser" /etc/passwd
         rlAssertGrep "custom_cmdline_arg" /proc/cmdline
     rlPhaseEnd
diff --git a/tests/cli/test_boot_qcow2.sh b/tests/cli/test_boot_qcow2.sh
index d984bdf3..183735ba 100755
--- a/tests/cli/test_boot_qcow2.sh
+++ b/tests/cli/test_boot_qcow2.sh
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ set -e
 rlJournalStart
     rlPhaseStartTest "Verify VM instance"
         # Just the fact that this is running means the image can boot and ssh is working
+        verify_image root localhost "-p 22"
         rlAssertExists "/root/.ssh/authorized_keys"
-        rlAssertGrep "custom_cmdline_arg" /proc/cmdline
     rlPhaseEnd
 rlJournalEnd
 rlJournalPrintText
diff --git a/tests/cli/test_boot_tar_kickstart.sh b/tests/cli/test_boot_tar_kickstart.sh
index 0b1e5d9b..56689b6b 100755
--- a/tests/cli/test_boot_tar_kickstart.sh
+++ b/tests/cli/test_boot_tar_kickstart.sh
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ set -e
 rlJournalStart
     rlPhaseStartTest "Verify VM instance"
         # Just the fact that this is running means the image can boot and ssh is working
+        CHECK_CMDLINE=0 verify_image root localhost "-p 22"
         rlAssertExists "/root/.ssh/authorized_keys"
     rlPhaseEnd
 rlJournalEnd