diff --git a/docs/user/environment-variables.md b/docs/user/environment-variables.md
index bedd18a0e28..f9e27fedfab 100644
--- a/docs/user/environment-variables.md
+++ b/docs/user/environment-variables.md
@@ -47,5 +47,7 @@ The installer accepts a number of environment variable that allow the interactiv
     This must be accessible from the running cluster.
 * `OPENSHIFT_INSTALL_LIBVIRT_IMAGE`:
     The URI for the OS image.
-    For example it might be url like `http://aos-ostree.rhev-ci-vms.eng.rdu2.redhat.com/rhcos/images/cloud/latest/rhcos-qemu.qcow2.gz` or
-    a local file like `file:///tmp/openshift-install-853528428`.
+    For example it might be a URI like `https://example.com/rhcos-qemu.qcow2` or a local file like `file:///tmp/redhat-coreos-maipo-47.78-qemu.qcow2`.
+
+    **Warning**: you should only set this if you're testing RHCOS releases.
+    Most users should allow the installer to choose the OS image.
diff --git a/pkg/asset/installconfig/platform.go b/pkg/asset/installconfig/platform.go
index 00f3daec937..6decf9b1736 100644
--- a/pkg/asset/installconfig/platform.go
+++ b/pkg/asset/installconfig/platform.go
@@ -289,40 +289,26 @@ func (a *platform) libvirtPlatform() (*types.LibvirtPlatform, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	// TODO: Ideally, this would live inside of a closure which is passed to
-	//       asset.GenerateUserProvidedAsset and only called if the environment
-	//       variable isn't present. As this exists, it ruins the abstraction.
-	var qcowImage string
-	if _, ok := os.LookupEnv("OPENSHIFT_INSTALL_LIBVIRT_IMAGE"); !ok {
+	qcowImage, ok :=os.LookupEnv("OPENSHIFT_INSTALL_LIBVIRT_IMAGE")
+	if ok {
+		err = validURI(qcowImage)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "resolve OPENSHIFT_INSTALL_LIBVIRT_IMAGE")
+		}
+	} else {
 		qcowImage, err = rhcos.QEMU(context.TODO(), rhcos.DefaultChannel)
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to fetch QEMU image URL")
 		}
 	}
 
-	image, err := asset.GenerateUserProvidedAsset(
-		"Libvirt Image",
-		&survey.Question{
-			Prompt: &survey.Input{
-				Message: "Image",
-				Help:    "URI of the OS image.",
-				Default: qcowImage,
-			},
-			Validate: survey.ComposeValidators(survey.Required, uriValidator),
-		},
-		"OPENSHIFT_INSTALL_LIBVIRT_IMAGE",
-	)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to Marshal %s platform", LibvirtPlatformType)
-	}
-
 	return &types.LibvirtPlatform{
 		Network: types.LibvirtNetwork{
 			IfName:  defaultLibvirtNetworkIfName,
 			IPRange: defaultLibvirtNetworkIPRange,
 		},
 		DefaultMachinePlatform: &types.LibvirtMachinePoolPlatform{
-			Image: image,
+			Image: qcowImage,
 		},
 		URI: uri,
 	}, nil
@@ -331,13 +317,17 @@ func (a *platform) libvirtPlatform() (*types.LibvirtPlatform, error) {
 // uriValidator validates if the answer provided in prompt is a valid
 // url and has non-empty scheme.
 func uriValidator(ans interface{}) error {
-	value := ans.(string)
-	uri, err := url.Parse(value)
+	return validURI(ans.(string))
+}
+
+// validURI validates if the URI is a valid URI with a non-empty scheme.
+func validURI(uri string) error {
+	parsed, err := url.Parse(uri)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	if uri.Scheme == "" {
-		return fmt.Errorf("invalid URI %q (no scheme)", value)
+	if parsed.Scheme == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("invalid URI %q (no scheme)", uri)
 	}
 	return nil
 }