diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/SearchableSnapshotDirectoryTests.java b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/SearchableSnapshotDirectoryTests.java
index 5a05b862df1..f3e2ee5b023 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/SearchableSnapshotDirectoryTests.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/searchable-snapshots/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/store/SearchableSnapshotDirectoryTests.java
@@ -531,7 +531,9 @@ public class SearchableSnapshotDirectoryTests extends ESTestCase {
                     shardId,
                     Settings.builder()
                         .put(SNAPSHOT_CACHE_ENABLED_SETTING.getKey(), true)
-                        .put(SNAPSHOT_CACHE_PREWARM_ENABLED_SETTING.getKey(), randomBoolean())
+                        // disable prewarming in this test to prevent files to be concurrently cached
+                        // while the cache is cleared out and while the test verifies it is empty
+                        .put(SNAPSHOT_CACHE_PREWARM_ENABLED_SETTING.getKey(), false)
                         .build(),
                     () -> 0L,
                     cacheService,