diff --git a/lib/anaconda.pm b/lib/anaconda.pm
index 7cca29b7..649828e1 100644
--- a/lib/anaconda.pm
+++ b/lib/anaconda.pm
@@ -33,7 +33,14 @@ sub select_disks {
     sleep 1;
     assert_and_click "anaconda_main_hub_install_destination";
 
-    if (get_var('NUMDISKS') > 1) {
+    # this is awkward, but on the install_repository_hd_variation test,
+    # we have two disks but on F39+ anaconda knows we're using one of
+    # them as an install source and 'protects' it (doesn't show it on
+    # INSTALLATION DESTINATION), so we need to go down the single disk
+    # branch in that case. Once F38 is EOL we could potentially tweak
+    # this to use a dedicated var or something
+    my $relnum = get_release_number;
+    if (get_var('NUMDISKS') > 1 && !(get_var('TEST') eq 'install_repository_hd_variation' && $relnum > 38)) {
         # Multi-disk case. Select however many disks the test needs. If
         # $disks is 0, this will do nothing, and 0 disks will be selected.
         for my $n (1 .. $args{disks}) {