diff --git a/apertis-image-builder/Dockerfile b/apertis-image-builder/Dockerfile
index 60a8fde68a292540c0f966d62d470af96fbec35e..ad313250f5c15b440818fd2326fcc5a7622a5fa4 100644
--- a/apertis-image-builder/Dockerfile
+++ b/apertis-image-builder/Dockerfile
@@ -41,6 +41,9 @@ FROM $REGISTRY/$RELEASE-base:$TAG
 ENV LANG=C.UTF-8
 ENV LC_ALL C.UTF-8
 
+# Need $HOME to point to somewhere writable for UML
+ENV HOME="/scratch"
+
 ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
 ENV GOPATH=/usr/local/go