diff --git a/internal/control/adminapi/api_test.go b/internal/control/adminapi/api_test.go
index 09ab907a..c0a5f2c8 100644
--- a/internal/control/adminapi/api_test.go
+++ b/internal/control/adminapi/api_test.go
@@ -35,7 +35,12 @@ func setup(t *testing.T, models []catalog.Model, nodes ...inventory.Node) (*API,
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
-	ctl := control.New(control.DefaultConfig(), cat, nullDispatcher{}, nullSink{}, slog.New(slog.DiscardHandler))
+	cfg := control.DefaultConfig()
+	// No startup settling window: these tests build the whole fleet before
+	// anything runs, which is the state settling waits for. Leaving it on would
+	// make every test here assert that placement had not happened yet.
+	cfg.Reconciler.SettleFor = -1
+	ctl := control.New(cfg, cat, nullDispatcher{}, nullSink{}, slog.New(slog.DiscardHandler))
 	for _, n := range nodes {
 		ctl.Inventory().Upsert(n)
 	}