diff --git a/tests/test_images.sh b/tests/test_images.sh
index 211bdb06c..451436067 100755
--- a/tests/test_images.sh
+++ b/tests/test_images.sh
@@ -462,7 +462,8 @@ test_distros()
 	local commonMakeVars=( \
 		USE_DOCKER=true \
 		ROOTFS_BUILD_DEST="$tmp_rootfs" \
-		IMAGES_BUILD_DEST="$images_dir" )
+		IMAGES_BUILD_DEST="$images_dir" \
+		DEBUG=1 )
 
 
 	# Only firecracker doesn't support NVDIMM