diff --git a/performance-metrics/src/performance_tests.rs b/performance-metrics/src/performance_tests.rs
index 10c298f2d..fd90c19fb 100644
--- a/performance-metrics/src/performance_tests.rs
+++ b/performance-metrics/src/performance_tests.rs
@@ -147,8 +147,7 @@ pub fn performance_net_throughput(control: &PerformanceTestControl) -> f64 {
     let mut child = GuestCommand::new(&guest)
         .args(["--cpus", &format!("boot={num_queues}")])
         .args(["--memory", "size=4G"])
-        .args(["--kernel", direct_kernel_boot_path().to_str().unwrap()])
-        .args(["--cmdline", DIRECT_KERNEL_BOOT_CMDLINE])
+        .default_kernel_cmdline()
         .default_disks()
         .args(["--net", net_params.as_str()])
         .capture_output()
@@ -188,8 +187,7 @@ pub fn performance_net_latency(control: &PerformanceTestControl) -> f64 {
     let mut child = GuestCommand::new(&guest)
         .args(["--cpus", &format!("boot={num_queues}")])
         .args(["--memory", "size=4G"])
-        .args(["--kernel", direct_kernel_boot_path().to_str().unwrap()])
-        .args(["--cmdline", DIRECT_KERNEL_BOOT_CMDLINE])
+        .default_kernel_cmdline()
         .default_disks()
         .args(["--net", net_params.as_str()])
         .capture_output()
@@ -333,8 +331,7 @@ pub fn performance_boot_time(control: &PerformanceTestControl) -> f64 {
                 &format!("boot={}", control.num_boot_vcpus.unwrap_or(1)),
             ])
             .args(["--memory", "size=1G"])
-            .args(["--kernel", direct_kernel_boot_path().to_str().unwrap()])
-            .args(["--cmdline", DIRECT_KERNEL_BOOT_CMDLINE])
+            .default_kernel_cmdline()
             .args(["--console", "off"])
             .default_disks();
 
@@ -421,8 +418,7 @@ pub fn performance_block_io(control: &PerformanceTestControl) -> f64 {
     let mut child = GuestCommand::new(&guest)
         .args(["--cpus", &format!("boot={num_queues}")])
         .args(["--memory", "size=4G"])
-        .args(["--kernel", direct_kernel_boot_path().to_str().unwrap()])
-        .args(["--cmdline", DIRECT_KERNEL_BOOT_CMDLINE])
+        .default_kernel_cmdline()
         .args([
             "--disk",
             format!(
@@ -552,8 +548,7 @@ pub fn performance_restore_latency(control: &PerformanceTestControl) -> f64 {
                 &format!("boot={}", control.num_boot_vcpus.unwrap_or(1)),
             ])
             .args(["--memory", "size=256M"])
-            .args(["--kernel", direct_kernel_boot_path().to_str().unwrap()])
-            .args(["--cmdline", DIRECT_KERNEL_BOOT_CMDLINE])
+            .default_kernel_cmdline()
             .args(["--console", "off"])
             .default_disks()
             .set_print_cmd(false)