diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
index a3c06e0444c..5badd76cd91 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/ClusterFormationTasks.groovy
@@ -185,7 +185,8 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
         Copy copyConfig = project.tasks.create(name: name, type: Copy, dependsOn: setup)
         copyConfig.into(new File(node.homeDir, 'config')) // copy must always have a general dest dir, even though we don't use it
         for (Map.Entry<String,Object> extraConfigFile : node.config.extraConfigFiles.entrySet()) {
-            Closure delayedSrc = {
+            copyConfig.doFirst {
+                // make sure the copy won't be a no-op or act on a directory
                 File srcConfigFile = project.file(extraConfigFile.getValue())
                 if (srcConfigFile.isDirectory()) {
                     throw new GradleException("Source for extraConfigFile must be a file: ${srcConfigFile}")
@@ -193,11 +194,10 @@ class ClusterFormationTasks {
                 if (srcConfigFile.exists() == false) {
                     throw new GradleException("Source file for extraConfigFile does not exist: ${srcConfigFile}")
                 }
-                return srcConfigFile
             }
             File destConfigFile = new File(node.homeDir, 'config/' + extraConfigFile.getKey())
-            copyConfig.from(delayedSrc)
-                      .into(destConfigFile.canonicalFile.parentFile)
+            copyConfig.into(destConfigFile.canonicalFile.parentFile)
+                      .from({ extraConfigFile.getValue() }) // wrap in closure to delay resolution to execution time
                       .rename { destConfigFile.name }
         }
         return copyConfig