diff --git a/nixos/tests/networking/networkd-and-scripted.nix b/nixos/tests/networking/networkd-and-scripted.nix
index 1b6c12eb58b7..934943b8707c 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/networking/networkd-and-scripted.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/networking/networkd-and-scripted.nix
@@ -120,12 +120,13 @@ let
         };
       };
       testScript = ''
-          start_all()
-
-          client.wait_for_unit("network.target")
+          router.start()
           router.systemctl("start network-online.target")
           router.wait_for_unit("network-online.target")
 
+          client.start()
+          client.wait_for_unit("network.target")
+
           with subtest("Wait until we have an ip address on each interface"):
               client.wait_until_succeeds("ip addr show dev enp1s0 | grep -q '192.168.1'")
               client.wait_until_succeeds("ip addr show dev enp1s0 | grep -q 'fd00:1234:5678:1:'")