diff --git a/tasks/cloud_setup_basic.yml b/tasks/cloud_setup_basic.yml
index 6404f5128a..8d2f934c8e 100644
--- a/tasks/cloud_setup_basic.yml
+++ b/tasks/cloud_setup_basic.yml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 
 - name: ntp pkgs
   command: dnf install -y ntpdate ntp libsemanage-python libselinux-python
-  when: ansible_distribution_major_version > '21' and not ansible_cmdline.ostree
+  when: ansible_distribution_major_version > '21' and ansible_cmdline.ostree is not defined
   tags:
   - packages