diff --git a/lib/tempest b/lib/tempest
index fb14cbf18e..52901270ce 100644
--- a/lib/tempest
+++ b/lib/tempest
@@ -413,12 +413,10 @@ function configure_tempest {
     fi
 
     # Scenario
-    SCENARIO_IMAGE_DIR=${SCENARIO_IMAGE_DIR:-$FILES/images/cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-uec}
+    SCENARIO_IMAGE_DIR=${SCENARIO_IMAGE_DIR:-$FILES}
+    SCENARIO_IMAGE_FILE=$DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME
     iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG scenario img_dir $SCENARIO_IMAGE_DIR
-    iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG scenario ami_img_file "cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-blank.img"
-    iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG scenario ari_img_file "cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-initrd"
-    iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG scenario aki_img_file "cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-vmlinuz"
-    iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG scenario img_file "cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-disk.img"
+    iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG scenario img_file $SCENARIO_IMAGE_FILE
 
     # Telemetry
     iniset $TEMPEST_CONFIG telemetry-feature-enabled events "True"
diff --git a/stackrc b/stackrc
index 63fb0263ca..22e034bdcb 100644
--- a/stackrc
+++ b/stackrc
@@ -644,9 +644,9 @@ if [[ "$DOWNLOAD_DEFAULT_IMAGES" == "True" ]]; then
                 lxc) # the cirros root disk in the uec tarball is empty, so it will not work for lxc
                     DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME=${DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME:-cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-rootfs}
                     IMAGE_URLS+="http://download.cirros-cloud.net/${CIRROS_VERSION}/cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-rootfs.img.gz";;
-                *) # otherwise, use the uec style image (with kernel, ramdisk, disk)
-                    DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME=${DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME:-cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-uec}
-                    IMAGE_URLS+="http://download.cirros-cloud.net/${CIRROS_VERSION}/cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-uec.tar.gz";;
+                *) # otherwise, use the qcow image
+                    DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME=${DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME:-cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-disk.img}
+                    IMAGE_URLS+="http://download.cirros-cloud.net/${CIRROS_VERSION}/cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-disk.img";;
                 esac
             ;;
         vsphere)
@@ -665,9 +665,9 @@ if [[ "$DOWNLOAD_DEFAULT_IMAGES" == "True" ]]; then
             fi
             IMAGE_URLS+="http://download.cirros-cloud.net/${CIRROS_VERSION}/cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-x86_64-uec.tar.gz"
             IMAGE_URLS+=",http://download.cirros-cloud.net/${CIRROS_VERSION}/cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-x86_64-disk.img";;
-        *) # Default to Cirros with kernel, ramdisk and disk image
-            DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME=${DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME:-cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-uec}
-            IMAGE_URLS+="http://download.cirros-cloud.net/${CIRROS_VERSION}/cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-uec.tar.gz";;
+        *) # Default to Cirros qcow2 image file
+            DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME=${DEFAULT_IMAGE_NAME:-cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-disk.img}
+            IMAGE_URLS+="http://download.cirros-cloud.net/${CIRROS_VERSION}/cirros-${CIRROS_VERSION}-${CIRROS_ARCH}-disk.img";;
     esac
     DOWNLOAD_DEFAULT_IMAGES=False
 fi