diff --git a/run b/run
index f27849c..6c96504 100755
--- a/run
+++ b/run
@@ -425,20 +425,24 @@ Extra options to append at the end of the emulator command line.
         if self.env['emulator'] == 'gem5':
             if self.env['quiet']:
                 show_stdout = False
-            if self.env['baremetal'] is None:
+            if not self.env['baremetal'] is None:
+                if not os.path.exists(self.env['gem5_fake_iso']):
+                    os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(self.env['gem5_fake_iso']), exist_ok=True)
+                    self.sh.write_string_to_file(self.env['gem5_fake_iso'], 'a' * 512)
+            elif self.env['userland'] is None:
                 if not os.path.exists(self.env['rootfs_raw_file']):
                     if not os.path.exists(self.env['qcow2_file']):
                         raise_rootfs_not_found()
                     self.raw_to_qcow2(qemu_which=self.env['qemu_which'], reverse=True)
-            else:
-                if not os.path.exists(self.env['gem5_fake_iso']):
-                    os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(self.env['gem5_fake_iso']), exist_ok=True)
-                    self.sh.write_string_to_file(self.env['gem5_fake_iso'], 'a' * 512)
             if not os.path.exists(self.env['image']):
                 # This is to run gem5 from a prebuilt download.
-                if (not self.env['baremetal'] is None) or (not os.path.exists(self.env['linux_image'])):
-                    raise_image_not_found()
-                self.sh.run_cmd([os.path.join(self.env['extract_vmlinux'], self.env['linux_image'])])
+                if (
+                    self.env['baremetal'] is None and
+                    self.env['userland'] is None
+                ):
+                    if not os.path.exists(self.env['linux_image']):
+                        raise_image_not_found()
+                    self.sh.run_cmd([os.path.join(self.env['extract_vmlinux'], self.env['linux_image'])])
             os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(self.env['gem5_readfile']), exist_ok=True)
             self.sh.write_string_to_file(self.env['gem5_readfile'], self.env['gem5_readfile'])
             memory = '{}B'.format(self.env['memory'])