diff --git a/tests/proxmox/create-vm.sh b/tests/proxmox/create-vm.sh
index 6718484..d41f0be 100755
--- a/tests/proxmox/create-vm.sh
+++ b/tests/proxmox/create-vm.sh
@@ -108,8 +108,9 @@ qm set "${VMID}" --scsihw virtio-scsi-single
 echo ">>> Configuring cloud-init..."
 
 qm set "${VMID}" --ide2 "${STORAGE}:cloudinit"
-qm set "${VMID}" --ciuser "darkforge"
-qm set "${VMID}" --cipassword "darkforge"
+
+# Don't use --ciuser/--cipassword — they conflict with the snippet on Arch.
+# We handle ALL user creation in the cloud-init snippet runcmd instead.
 qm set "${VMID}" --ipconfig0 "ip=dhcp"
 
 # Enable nested virtualization (for QEMU-in-QEMU boot tests)
@@ -120,67 +121,64 @@ echo ">>> Resizing disk to ${DISK_SIZE}..."
 qm resize "${VMID}" scsi0 "${DISK_SIZE}" 2>/dev/null || true
 
 # --- Generate cloud-init user-data snippet -----------------------------------
-# This runs on first boot inside the VM
+# NOTE: The Arch Linux cloud image has quirks with user/password handling.
+# We do EVERYTHING via runcmd to guarantee it works regardless of cloud-init
+# version or Proxmox's cloud-init integration behavior.
 SNIPPET_DIR="/var/lib/vz/snippets"
 mkdir -p "${SNIPPET_DIR}"
 
 cat > "${SNIPPET_DIR}/darkforge-test-init.yaml" << 'CLOUDINIT'
 #cloud-config
 
-# Enable SSH password authentication (cloud images disable it by default)
-ssh_pwauth: true
-chpasswd:
-  expire: false
-  users:
-    - name: darkforge
-      password: darkforge
-      type: text
+# Disable the default user module to avoid conflicts
+# We create our user manually via runcmd below
+users: []
+
+ssh_pwauth: true
 
-# Ensure sshd allows password auth
 write_files:
   - path: /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/99-darkforge.conf
     content: |
       PasswordAuthentication yes
-      PermitRootLogin no
-
-package_update: true
-packages:
-  - base-devel
-  - git
-  - wget
-  - curl
-  - rust
-  - cargo
-  - qemu-full
-  - edk2-ovmf
-  - squashfs-tools
-  - xorriso
-  - dosfstools
-  - mtools
-  - python
-  - bc
-  - rsync
-  - openssh
-  - tmux
+      PermitRootLogin yes
 
 runcmd:
-  # Restart sshd to pick up the password auth config
+  # --- USER SETUP (do this first, before anything else) ----------------------
+  # Set root password so we always have a fallback login
+  - echo 'root:darkforge' | chpasswd
+
+  # Create the darkforge user if it doesn't exist
+  - id darkforge &>/dev/null || useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash darkforge
+  - echo 'darkforge:darkforge' | chpasswd
+
+  # Give darkforge sudo/wheel access without password
+  - echo 'darkforge ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' > /etc/sudoers.d/darkforge
+  - chmod 440 /etc/sudoers.d/darkforge
+
+  # Enable and restart sshd
+  - systemctl enable sshd
   - systemctl restart sshd
 
-  # Grow the partition to fill the disk
-  - growpart /dev/sda 2 || true
-  - resize2fs /dev/sda2 || btrfs filesystem resize max / || true
+  # --- DISK RESIZE -----------------------------------------------------------
+  - growpart /dev/sda 2 || growpart /dev/vda 2 || true
+  - resize2fs /dev/sda2 || resize2fs /dev/vda2 || btrfs filesystem resize max / || true
 
-  # Clone the DarkForge project
+  # --- PACKAGE INSTALL -------------------------------------------------------
+  - pacman-key --init
+  - pacman-key --populate archlinux
+  - pacman -Syu --noconfirm
+  - pacman -S --noconfirm --needed base-devel git wget curl rust cargo qemu-full edk2-ovmf squashfs-tools xorriso dosfstools mtools python bc rsync openssh tmux
+
+  # --- CLONE PROJECT ---------------------------------------------------------
   - |
     su - darkforge -c '
       cd /home/darkforge
       git clone --recurse-submodules https://git.dannyhaslund.dk/danny8632/darkforge.git 2>/dev/null || \
         git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/danny8632/darkforge.git 2>/dev/null || \
-        echo "CLONE FAILED — manually clone the repo"
+        echo "CLONE FAILED — manually clone the repo after login"
     '
 
-  # Create the darkforge-test convenience command
+  # --- INSTALL CONVENIENCE COMMAND -------------------------------------------
   - |
     cat > /usr/local/bin/darkforge-test << 'DTEOF'
     #!/bin/bash
@@ -197,7 +195,7 @@ runcmd:
     DTEOF
     chmod +x /usr/local/bin/darkforge-test
 
-  # Signal that provisioning is done
+  # --- SIGNAL DONE -----------------------------------------------------------
   - touch /home/darkforge/.provisioned
   - chown darkforge:darkforge /home/darkforge/.provisioned
 CLOUDINIT