diff --git a/lxd/instance/drivers/driver_common.go b/lxd/instance/drivers/driver_common.go
index 087d76784da8..f9b933e3ac01 100644
--- a/lxd/instance/drivers/driver_common.go
+++ b/lxd/instance/drivers/driver_common.go
@@ -631,12 +631,15 @@ func (d *common) rebuildCommon(inst instance.Instance, img *api.Image, op *opera
 
 	// Rebuild as empty if there is no image provided.
 	if img == nil {
-		return pool.CreateInstance(inst, nil)
-	}
-
-	err = pool.CreateInstanceFromImage(inst, img.Fingerprint, op)
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		err = pool.CreateInstance(inst, nil)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	} else {
+		err = pool.CreateInstanceFromImage(inst, img.Fingerprint, op)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 	}
 
 	err = d.state.DB.Cluster.Transaction(context.TODO(), func(ctx context.Context, tx *db.ClusterTx) error {
@@ -645,9 +648,11 @@ func (d *common) rebuildCommon(inst instance.Instance, img *api.Image, op *opera
 			return err
 		}
 
-		err = tx.UpdateImageLastUseDate(ctx, inst.Project().Name, img.Fingerprint, time.Now().UTC())
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
+		if img != nil {
+			err = tx.UpdateImageLastUseDate(ctx, inst.Project().Name, img.Fingerprint, time.Now().UTC())
+			if err != nil {
+				return err
+			}
 		}
 
 		return nil
diff --git a/test/suites/basic.sh b/test/suites/basic.sh
index cf10f22a2bbd..6e71ce6e2921 100644
--- a/test/suites/basic.sh
+++ b/test/suites/basic.sh
@@ -646,6 +646,7 @@ test_basic_usage() {
   # Test rebuilding an instance with an empty file system.
   lxc init testimage c1
   lxc rebuild c1 --empty
+  ! lxc config show c1 | grep -q 'image.*' || false
   lxc delete c1 -f
 
   # Test assigning an empty profile (with no root disk device) to an instance.