diff --git a/scripts/src/artifact-registry.ts b/scripts/src/artifact-registry.ts
index 7c193be9..a5f5744b 100644
--- a/scripts/src/artifact-registry.ts
+++ b/scripts/src/artifact-registry.ts
@@ -2000,8 +2000,16 @@ function d601K3sArtifactDeployScript(options: ArtifactRegistryOptions, spec: Art
     "manifest=$(mktemp /tmp/unidesk-artifact-k3s-manifest.XXXXXX.yaml)",
     "docker save \"$commit_image\" \"$stable_image\" -o \"$archive\"",
     "root_exec ctr --address /run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock -n k8s.io images import \"$archive\" >/dev/null",
-    "root_exec ctr --address /run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock -n k8s.io images ls | grep -F \"$stable_image\" >/dev/null",
-    "root_exec ctr --address /run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock -n k8s.io images ls | grep -F \"$commit_image\" >/dev/null",
+    "containerd_image_ref() {",
+    "  ref=\"$1\"",
+    "  if root_exec ctr --address /run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock -n k8s.io images inspect \"$ref\" >/dev/null 2>&1; then printf '%s\\n' \"$ref\"; return; fi",
+    "  suffix=\"${ref#*/}\"",
+    "  actual_ref=$(root_exec ctr --address /run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock -n k8s.io images ls -q | grep -F \"/$suffix\" | head -1 || true)",
+    "  test -n \"$actual_ref\"",
+    "  printf '%s\\n' \"$actual_ref\"",
+    "}",
+    "stable_containerd_ref=$(containerd_image_ref \"$stable_image\")",
+    "commit_containerd_ref=$(containerd_image_ref \"$commit_image\")",
     "printf '%s' \"$manifest_b64\" | base64 -d > \"$manifest\"",
     "deployment_specs=$(mktemp /tmp/unidesk-artifact-k3s-deployments.XXXXXX.json)",
     "printf '%s' \"$deployment_specs_b64\" | base64 -d > \"$deployment_specs\"",
@@ -2042,12 +2050,7 @@ function d601K3sArtifactDeployScript(options: ArtifactRegistryOptions, spec: Art
     "containerd_config_label() {",
     "  ref=\"$1\"",
     "  key=\"$2\"",
-    "  actual_ref=\"$ref\"",
-    "  if ! root_exec ctr --address /run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock -n k8s.io images inspect \"$actual_ref\" >/dev/null 2>&1; then",
-    "    suffix=\"${ref#*/}\"",
-    "    actual_ref=$(root_exec ctr --address /run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock -n k8s.io images ls -q | grep -F \"/$suffix\" | head -1 || true)",
-    "  fi",
-    "  test -n \"$actual_ref\"",
+    "  actual_ref=$(containerd_image_ref \"$ref\")",
     "  target_digest=$(root_exec ctr --address /run/k3s/containerd/containerd.sock -n k8s.io images inspect \"$actual_ref\" | python3 -c 'import re,sys; m=re.search(r\"@(sha256:[0-9a-f]+)\", sys.stdin.read()); print(m.group(1) if m else \"\")')",
     "  test -n \"$target_digest\"",
     "  digest=\"$target_digest\"",