diff --git a/testsuite/cibuilder.py b/testsuite/cibuilder.py
index 07a9edc56d9c..ec44b5756b15 100755
--- a/testsuite/cibuilder.py
+++ b/testsuite/cibuilder.py
@@ -231,6 +231,18 @@ class CIBuilder(Test):
         login_prompt = b'isar login:'
         # the printk of recipes-kernel/example-module
         module_output = b'Just an example'
+        # output we see when expand-on-first-boot runs on ext4
+        resize_output = b'resized filesystem to'
+        expecting_resize = False
+
+        bb_output = get_bitbake_env(arch, distro).decode()
+        wks_file = get_bitbake_var(bb_output, 'WKS_FILE')
+        if wks_file and "sdimage-efi" in wks_file:
+            bbdistro = get_bitbake_var(bb_output, 'DISTRO')
+            # ubuntu is less verbose so we do not see the message
+            # /etc/sysctl.d/10-console-messages.conf
+            if bbdistro and "ubuntu" not in bbdistro:
+                expecting_resize = True
 
         timeout = time.time() + int(time_to_wait)
 
@@ -265,8 +277,11 @@ class CIBuilder(Test):
             with open(output_file, "rb") as f1:
                 data = f1.read()
                 if module_output in data and login_prompt in data:
-                    return
-                else:
-                    app_log.error(data.decode(errors='replace'))
+                    if expecting_resize:
+                        if resize_output in data:
+                            return
+                    else:
+                        return
+                app_log.error(data.decode(errors='replace'))
 
         self.fail('Log ' + output_file)