diff --git a/meta-isar/conf/machine/qemuamd64.conf b/meta-isar/conf/machine/qemuamd64.conf
index 6b40cb50702e..a1be5e5b113b 100644
--- a/meta-isar/conf/machine/qemuamd64.conf
+++ b/meta-isar/conf/machine/qemuamd64.conf
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ IMAGER_INSTALL_append_debian-bullseye = " ${SYSTEMD_BOOTLOADER_INSTALL} btrfs-pr
 IMAGE_PREINSTALL_append_debian-bullseye = " btrfs-progs"
 
 IMAGE_INSTALL += "sshd-regen-keys"
+IMAGE_INSTALL += "expand-on-first-boot"
 
 QEMU_ARCH ?= "x86_64"
 QEMU_MACHINE ?= "q35"
diff --git a/meta-isar/conf/machine/virtualbox.conf b/meta-isar/conf/machine/virtualbox.conf
index de3d04c3c4b4..8c3e9bacbf9b 100644
--- a/meta-isar/conf/machine/virtualbox.conf
+++ b/meta-isar/conf/machine/virtualbox.conf
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ KERNEL_NAME ?= "amd64"
 WKS_FILE ?= "sdimage-efi"
 
 IMAGER_INSTALL += "${GRUB_BOOTLOADER_INSTALL}"
+IMAGE_INSTALL += "expand-on-first-boot"
 
 VMDK_SUBFORMAT = "monolithicSparse"
 IMAGE_FSTYPES ?= "ova"
diff --git a/meta-isar/conf/machine/vmware.conf b/meta-isar/conf/machine/vmware.conf
index fba639b19350..42503374742c 100644
--- a/meta-isar/conf/machine/vmware.conf
+++ b/meta-isar/conf/machine/vmware.conf
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ WKS_FILE ?= "sdimage-efi"
 IMAGER_INSTALL += "${GRUB_BOOTLOADER_INSTALL}"
 
 OVF_TEMPLATE_FILE ?= "vm-img-vmware.ovf.tmpl"
+IMAGE_INSTALL += "expand-on-first-boot"
 
 VMDK_SUBFORMAT = "streamOptimized"
 IMAGE_FSTYPES ?= "ova"
diff --git a/meta-isar/conf/multiconfig/qemuarm-bookworm.conf b/meta-isar/conf/multiconfig/qemuarm-bookworm.conf
index 126935b06fda..0b9ecb664545 100644
--- a/meta-isar/conf/multiconfig/qemuarm-bookworm.conf
+++ b/meta-isar/conf/multiconfig/qemuarm-bookworm.conf
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@ IMAGE_FSTYPES_append = " wic"
 WKS_FILE ?= "sdimage-efi-sd"
 
 IMAGER_INSTALL += "${SYSTEMD_BOOTLOADER_INSTALL}"
+IMAGE_INSTALL += "expand-on-first-boot"
diff --git a/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/expand-padding.wks.inc b/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/expand-padding.wks.inc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..701fba764176
--- /dev/null
+++ b/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/expand-padding.wks.inc
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# some extra space we put in the end after the last partition
+# that allows testing expand-on-first-boot while at the same time
+# making our images more useful because they have space to play around
+
+part --source empty --no-table --ondisk sda --size 256M
diff --git a/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi-btrfs.wks b/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi-btrfs.wks
index 014ecca61f0c..e22dba2f83f8 100644
--- a/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi-btrfs.wks
+++ b/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi-btrfs.wks
@@ -6,4 +6,6 @@ part /boot --source bootimg-efi-isar --sourceparams "loader=systemd-boot" --ondi
 
 part / --source rootfs --ondisk sda --fstype btrfs --label platform --align 1024 --use-uuid --exclude-path boot/
 
+include expand-padding.wks.inc
+
 bootloader --ptable gpt --timeout 3 --append "rootwait console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty0"
diff --git a/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi-sd.wks b/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi-sd.wks
index 754fbc46f8e4..7fe2953f5ff2 100644
--- a/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi-sd.wks
+++ b/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi-sd.wks
@@ -6,4 +6,6 @@ part /boot --source bootimg-efi-isar --sourceparams "loader=systemd-boot" --ondi
 
 part / --source rootfs --ondisk sda --fstype ext4 --mkfs-extraopts "-T default" --label platform --align 1024 --use-uuid --exclude-path boot/
 
+include expand-padding.wks.inc
+
 bootloader --ptable gpt --timeout 3 --append "rootwait console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty0"
diff --git a/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi.wks b/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi.wks
index f3addbc7515d..80c3a5359b1f 100644
--- a/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi.wks
+++ b/meta-isar/scripts/lib/wic/canned-wks/sdimage-efi.wks
@@ -6,4 +6,6 @@ part /boot --source bootimg-efi-isar --sourceparams "loader=grub-efi" --ondisk s
 
 part / --source rootfs --ondisk sda --fstype ext4 --mkfs-extraopts "-T default" --label platform --align 1024 --use-uuid --exclude-path boot/
 
+include expand-padding.wks.inc
+
 bootloader --ptable gpt --timeout 3 --append "rootwait console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty0"
