diff --git a/generic/tests/cfg/guest_test.cfg b/generic/tests/cfg/guest_test.cfg
index d8e7786f00e140d6d219270628377a194a3e42dd..5470145dc1b8500c2c164a63fa31fb8326f8016b 100644
--- a/generic/tests/cfg/guest_test.cfg
+++ b/generic/tests/cfg/guest_test.cfg
@@ -42,5 +42,6 @@
             pre_command = "echo 'dd if=/dev/zero of=/home/bigfile bs=1M count=2048 && "
             pre_command += "\cp -f /home/{bigfile,bigfile.bak} && "
             pre_command += "\rm -f /home/{bigfile,bigfile.bak} && "
-            pre_command += "killall dhclient && dhclient -v && ifconfig -a' > ${guest_script}"
+            pre_command += "(! pgrep dhclient || killall dhclient) && "
+            pre_command += "dhclient -v && ifconfig -a' > ${guest_script}"
             post_command = "\rm -f ${guest_script}"