diff --git a/test/TEST-55-OOMD/test.sh b/test/TEST-55-OOMD/test.sh
index c6dc92c050..64e2360b08 100755
--- a/test/TEST-55-OOMD/test.sh
+++ b/test/TEST-55-OOMD/test.sh
@@ -5,18 +5,19 @@ set -e
 TEST_DESCRIPTION="systemd-oomd Memory Pressure Test"
 IMAGE_NAME="oomd"
 
+# Need to set up swap
+TEST_NO_NSPAWN=1
+
 # shellcheck source=test/test-functions
 . "${TEST_BASE_DIR:?}/test-functions"
 
 test_append_files() {
-    # Create a swap device
+    # Create a swap file
     (
-        mkswap "${LOOPDEV:?}p2"
-        image_install swapon swapoff
+        image_install mkswap swapon swapoff stress
 
-        cat >>"${initdir:?}/etc/fstab" <<EOF
-UUID=$(blkid -o value -s UUID "${LOOPDEV}p2")    none    swap    defaults 0 0
-EOF
+        dd if=/dev/zero of="${initdir:?}/swapfile" bs=1M count=48
+        chmod 0600 "${initdir:?}/swapfile"
 
         mkdir -p "${initdir:?}/etc/systemd/system/init.scope.d/"
         cat >>"${initdir:?}/etc/systemd/system/init.scope.d/test-55-oomd.conf" <<EOF
diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-55-slowgrowth.sh b/test/units/testsuite-55-slowgrowth.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index df1ea483fb..0000000000
--- a/test/units/testsuite-55-slowgrowth.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,40 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later
-# Don't use set -x here, since it generates a lot of output and slows
-# the script down, causing unexpected test fails.
-set -eu
-set -o pipefail
-
-PAGE_SIZE=$(getconf PAGE_SIZE)
-BLOAT_ITERATION_TARGET=$((100 << 20)) # 100 MB
-BLOAT_HOLDER=()
-PID="$$"
-
-function bloat {
-        local set_size mem_usage target_mem_size
-
-        set_size=$(cut -d " " -f2 "/proc/$PID/statm")
-        mem_usage=$((set_size * PAGE_SIZE))
-        target_mem_size=$((mem_usage + $1))
-
-        BLOAT_HOLDER=()
-        while [[ "$mem_usage" -lt "$target_mem_size" ]]; do
-                echo "target $target_mem_size"
-                echo "mem usage $mem_usage"
-                BLOAT_HOLDER+=("$(printf "=%0.s" {1..1000000})")
-                set_size=$(cut -d " " -f2 "/proc/$PID/statm")
-                mem_usage=$((set_size * PAGE_SIZE))
-        done
-}
-
-function run {
-        local arr=()
-
-        while :; do
-                bloat "$BLOAT_ITERATION_TARGET"
-                arr+=("${BLOAT_HOLDER[@]}")
-                sleep 1
-        done
-}
-
-run
diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-55-testbloat.service b/test/units/testsuite-55-testbloat.service
index 8ec535979d..6c8e3c93ac 100644
--- a/test/units/testsuite-55-testbloat.service
+++ b/test/units/testsuite-55-testbloat.service
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 Description=Create a lot of memory pressure
 
 [Service]
-# A VERY small memory.high will cause the script (trying to use a lot of memory)
+# A VERY small memory.high will cause the 'stress' (trying to use a lot of memory)
 # to throttle and be put under heavy pressure.
-MemoryHigh=5M
+MemoryHigh=3M
 Slice=testsuite-55-workload.slice
-ExecStart=/usr/lib/systemd/tests/testdata/units/testsuite-55-slowgrowth.sh
+ExecStart=stress --timeout 3m --vm 10 --vm-bytes 200M --vm-keep --vm-stride 1
diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-55-testmunch.service b/test/units/testsuite-55-testmunch.service
index 8820dc0678..3730059797 100644
--- a/test/units/testsuite-55-testmunch.service
+++ b/test/units/testsuite-55-testmunch.service
@@ -3,6 +3,6 @@
 Description=Create some memory pressure
 
 [Service]
-MemoryHigh=6M
+MemoryHigh=12M
 Slice=testsuite-55-workload.slice
-ExecStart=/usr/lib/systemd/tests/testdata/units/testsuite-55-slowgrowth.sh
+ExecStart=stress --timeout 3m --vm 10 --vm-bytes 200M --vm-keep --vm-stride 1
diff --git a/test/units/testsuite-55.sh b/test/units/testsuite-55.sh
index 1433e79c5b..838ba3a6a0 100755
--- a/test/units/testsuite-55.sh
+++ b/test/units/testsuite-55.sh
@@ -24,6 +24,13 @@ fi
 
 rm -rf /run/systemd/system/testsuite-55-testbloat.service.d
 
+# Activate swap file if we are in a VM
+if systemd-detect-virt --vm --quiet; then
+    mkswap /swapfile
+    swapon /swapfile
+    swapon --show
+fi
+
 # Configure oomd explicitly to avoid conflicts with distro dropins
 mkdir -p /run/systemd/oomd.conf.d/
 cat >/run/systemd/oomd.conf.d/99-oomd-test.conf <<EOF
@@ -89,6 +96,7 @@ while [[ $(date -u +%s) -le $timeout ]]; do
     if ! systemctl status testsuite-55-testbloat.service; then
         break
     fi
+    oomctl
     sleep 2
 done
 
@@ -126,6 +134,7 @@ while [[ $(date -u +%s) -le $timeout ]]; do
     if ! systemctl --machine "testuser@.host" --user status testsuite-55-testbloat.service; then
         break
     fi
+    oomctl
     sleep 2
 done
 
@@ -153,6 +162,7 @@ EOF
         if ! systemctl status testsuite-55-testmunch.service; then
             break
         fi
+        oomctl
         sleep 2
     done