diff --git a/tests/BootImageProfileTest/AndroidTest.xml b/tests/BootImageProfileTest/AndroidTest.xml
index 7e97fa3..50f323c 100644
--- a/tests/BootImageProfileTest/AndroidTest.xml
+++ b/tests/BootImageProfileTest/AndroidTest.xml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
      limitations under the License.
 -->
 <configuration description="Config for BootImageProfileTest">
+     <target_preparer class="com.android.tradefed.targetprep.RootTargetPreparer" />
      <!-- do not use DeviceSetup#set-property because it reboots the device b/136200738.
          furthermore the changes in /data/local.prop don't actually seem to get picked up.
     -->