diff --git a/tests/acceptance/avocado_qemu/__init__.py b/tests/acceptance/avocado_qemu/__init__.py
index ac8041821fa1..83b1741ec855 100644
--- a/tests/acceptance/avocado_qemu/__init__.py
+++ b/tests/acceptance/avocado_qemu/__init__.py
@@ -317,8 +317,10 @@ def prepare_cloudinit(self, ssh_pubkey=None):
         try:
             cloudinit_iso = os.path.join(self.workdir, 'cloudinit.iso')
             self.phone_home_port = network.find_free_port()
-            with open(ssh_pubkey) as pubkey:
-                pubkey_content = pubkey.read()
+            pubkey_content = None
+            if ssh_pubkey:
+                with open(ssh_pubkey) as pubkey:
+                    pubkey_content = pubkey.read()
             cloudinit.iso(cloudinit_iso, self.name,
                           username='root',
                           password='password',