diff --git a/gerrit-acceptance-framework/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/GerritServer.java b/gerrit-acceptance-framework/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/GerritServer.java
index 1d7ea103fd..bb3cab86fa 100644
--- a/gerrit-acceptance-framework/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/GerritServer.java
+++ b/gerrit-acceptance-framework/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/GerritServer.java
@@ -185,6 +185,15 @@ public class GerritServer implements AutoCloseable {
     checkArgument(!desc.memory(), "can't initialize site path for in-memory test: %s", desc);
     Config cfg = desc.buildConfig(baseConfig);
     Map<String, Config> pluginConfigs = desc.buildPluginConfigs();
+
+    MergeableFileBasedConfig gerritConfig =
+        new MergeableFileBasedConfig(
+            site.resolve("etc").resolve("gerrit.config").toFile(), FS.DETECTED);
+    gerritConfig.load();
+    gerritConfig.merge(cfg);
+    mergeTestConfig(gerritConfig);
+    gerritConfig.save();
+
     Init init = new Init();
     int rc =
         init.main(
@@ -195,14 +204,6 @@ public class GerritServer implements AutoCloseable {
       throw new RuntimeException("Couldn't initialize site");
     }
 
-    MergeableFileBasedConfig gerritConfig =
-        new MergeableFileBasedConfig(
-            site.resolve("etc").resolve("gerrit.config").toFile(), FS.DETECTED);
-    gerritConfig.load();
-    gerritConfig.merge(cfg);
-    mergeTestConfig(gerritConfig);
-    gerritConfig.save();
-
     for (String pluginName : pluginConfigs.keySet()) {
       MergeableFileBasedConfig pluginCfg =
           new MergeableFileBasedConfig(
diff --git a/gerrit-acceptance-tests/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/pgm/ElasticReindexIT.java b/gerrit-acceptance-tests/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/pgm/ElasticReindexIT.java
index b560c5f8cf..c4900de40a 100644
--- a/gerrit-acceptance-tests/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/pgm/ElasticReindexIT.java
+++ b/gerrit-acceptance-tests/src/test/java/com/google/gerrit/acceptance/pgm/ElasticReindexIT.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import com.google.inject.Injector;
 import java.util.UUID;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Config;
 import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
 
 public class ElasticReindexIT extends AbstractReindexTests {
   private static ElasticContainer<?> container;
@@ -62,6 +63,12 @@ public class ElasticReindexIT extends AbstractReindexTests {
     ElasticTestUtils.createAllIndexes(injector);
   }
 
+  @Before
+  public void reindexFirstSinceElastic() throws Exception {
+    assertServerStartupFails();
+    runGerrit("reindex", "-d", sitePaths.site_path.toString(), "--show-stack-trace");
+  }
+
   @After
   public void stopElasticServer() {
     if (container != null) {