diff --git a/cli/internal/cmd/status.go b/cli/internal/cmd/status.go
index 41467e888..a80c2a7c1 100644
--- a/cli/internal/cmd/status.go
+++ b/cli/internal/cmd/status.go
@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ func (s *statusCmd) status(
 	if errors.As(err, &configValidationErr) {
 		cmd.PrintErrln(configValidationErr.LongMessage())
 	}
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("loading config file: %w", err)
+	}
 
 	nodeVersion, err := kubeClient.GetConstellationVersion(cmd.Context())
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/cli/internal/cmd/status_test.go b/cli/internal/cmd/status_test.go
index 6d94b6a41..51f305f7c 100644
--- a/cli/internal/cmd/status_test.go
+++ b/cli/internal/cmd/status_test.go
@@ -265,10 +265,10 @@ func TestStatus(t *testing.T) {
 			cmd.SetErr(&errOut)
 
 			fileHandler := file.NewHandler(afero.NewMemMapFs())
-			cfg, err := createConfigWithAttestationVariant(cloudprovider.QEMU, "", variant.QEMUVTPM{})
+			cfg, err := createConfigWithAttestationVariant(cloudprovider.Azure, "", variant.AzureSEVSNP{})
 			require.NoError(err)
+			modifyConfigForAzureToPassValidate(cfg)
 			require.NoError(fileHandler.WriteYAML(constants.ConfigFilename, cfg))
-
 			s := statusCmd{fileHandler: fileHandler}
 
 			err = s.status(
@@ -287,6 +287,37 @@ func TestStatus(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func modifyConfigForAzureToPassValidate(c *config.Config) {
+	c.RemoveProviderAndAttestationExcept(cloudprovider.Azure)
+	c.Image = constants.BinaryVersion().String()
+	c.Provider.Azure.SubscriptionID = "11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111"
+	c.Provider.Azure.TenantID = "11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111"
+	c.Provider.Azure.Location = "westus"
+	c.Provider.Azure.ResourceGroup = "test"
+	c.Provider.Azure.UserAssignedIdentity = "/subscriptions/11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111/resourcegroups/constellation-identity/providers/Microsoft.ManagedIdentity/userAssignedIdentities/constellation-identity"
+	c.Attestation.AzureSEVSNP.Measurements = measurements.M{
+		0: measurements.WithAllBytes(0x00, measurements.Enforce, measurements.PCRMeasurementLength),
+	}
+	c.NodeGroups = map[string]config.NodeGroup{
+		constants.ControlPlaneDefault: {
+			Role:            "control-plane",
+			Zone:            "",
+			InstanceType:    "Standard_DC4as_v5",
+			StateDiskSizeGB: 30,
+			StateDiskType:   "StandardSSD_LRS",
+			InitialCount:    3,
+		},
+		constants.WorkerDefault: {
+			Role:            "worker",
+			Zone:            "",
+			InstanceType:    "Standard_DC4as_v5",
+			StateDiskSizeGB: 30,
+			StateDiskType:   "StandardSSD_LRS",
+			InitialCount:    3,
+		},
+	}
+}
+
 type stubKubeClient struct {
 	status         map[string]kubecmd.NodeStatus
 	statusErr      error
diff --git a/internal/config/config_test.go b/internal/config/config_test.go
index 678730f71..7c4c5c015 100644
--- a/internal/config/config_test.go
+++ b/internal/config/config_test.go
@@ -397,17 +397,6 @@ func TestValidate(t *testing.T) {
 				cnf := Default()
 				cnf.RemoveProviderAndAttestationExcept(cloudprovider.Azure)
 				cnf.Image = constants.BinaryVersion().String()
-				az := cnf.Provider.Azure
-				az.SubscriptionID = "01234567-0123-0123-0123-0123456789ab"
-				az.TenantID = "01234567-0123-0123-0123-0123456789ab"
-				az.Location = "test-location"
-				az.UserAssignedIdentity = "test-identity"
-				az.ResourceGroup = "test-resource-group"
-				cnf.Provider = ProviderConfig{}
-				cnf.Provider.Azure = az
-				cnf.Attestation.AzureSEVSNP.Measurements = measurements.M{
-					0: measurements.WithAllBytes(0x00, measurements.Enforce, measurements.PCRMeasurementLength),
-				}
 				modifyConfigForAzureToPassValidate(cnf)
 				return cnf
 			}(),