diff --git a/.github/workflows/scripts/qemu-2-start.sh b/.github/workflows/scripts/qemu-2-start.sh
index 9770c8903cc..7e72030adb9 100755
--- a/.github/workflows/scripts/qemu-2-start.sh
+++ b/.github/workflows/scripts/qemu-2-start.sh
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ NIC="virtio"
 # additional options for virt-install
 OPTS[0]=""
 OPTS[1]=""
+ALT_URL=""
 
 case "$OS" in
   almalinux8)
@@ -56,11 +57,22 @@ case "$OS" in
   centos-stream9)
     OSNAME="CentOS Stream 9"
     URL="https://cloud.centos.org/centos/9-stream/x86_64/images/CentOS-Stream-GenericCloud-9-latest.x86_64.qcow2"
+
+    # Sometimes we get HTTP errors for the first link.  Fall back to the
+    # "Composes" repo as an alternative.  The "Composes" repo includes
+    # autogenerated nightly CentOS Stream images.  We have to lookup the URL
+    # dynamically since the qcow2 file name has the date in it.
+    ALT_URL=$(wget --accept "CentOS-Stream-GenericCloud-9-*.x86_64.qcow2" --spider -np --recursive  --no-verbose \
+              https://composes.stream.centos.org/stream-9/production/latest-CentOS-Stream/compose/BaseOS/x86_64/images/ 2>&1 | \
+              awk '/200 OK/{print $(NF-2)}')
     ;;
   centos-stream10)
     OSNAME="CentOS Stream 10"
     OSv="centos-stream9"
     URL="https://cloud.centos.org/centos/10-stream/x86_64/images/CentOS-Stream-GenericCloud-10-latest.x86_64.qcow2"
+    ALT_URL=$(wget --accept "CentOS-Stream-GenericCloud-10-*.x86_64.qcow2" --spider -np --recursive  --no-verbose \
+              https://composes.stream.centos.org/stream-10/production/latest-CentOS-Stream/compose/BaseOS/x86_64/images/ 2>&1 | \
+              awk '/200 OK/{print $(NF-2)}')
     ;;
   debian11)
     OSNAME="Debian 11"
@@ -204,6 +216,16 @@ for cmd in 'axel -q -o' 'curl --fail -LSs -o' ; do
   if [ -s "$IMG" ] ; then
     # Successful download
     break
+  else
+    if [ -n "$ALT_URL" ] ; then
+      # Try the $ALT_URL if specified
+      echo "Loading alternative $ALT_URL with $cmd..."
+      time eval "$cmd $IMG $ALT_URL"
+      if [ -s "$IMG" ]; then
+        # Successful ALT_URL download
+        break
+      fi
+    fi
   fi
 done