diff --git a/travis-ci/vmtest/run.sh b/travis-ci/vmtest/run.sh
index 5c5a803..ec22d3e 100755
--- a/travis-ci/vmtest/run.sh
+++ b/travis-ci/vmtest/run.sh
@@ -415,8 +415,8 @@ set -eux
 
 echo 'Running setup commands'
 %s
-%s
-echo $? > /exitstatus
+set +e; %s; exitstatus=\$?; set -e
+echo \$exitstatus > /exitstatus
 chmod 644 /exitstatus" "${setup_envvars}" "${setup_cmd}")
 fi