diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/terraform-apply.yml b/.gitea/workflows/terraform-apply.yml
index fa05fc1..fdd213e 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/terraform-apply.yml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/terraform-apply.yml
@@ -96,6 +96,7 @@ jobs:
           import ssl
           import sys
           import time
+          import urllib.error
           import urllib.parse
           import urllib.request
 
@@ -145,7 +146,7 @@ jobs:
                   payload = resp.read().decode("utf-8")
               return json.loads(payload)
 
-          def wait_for_guest_agent(vmid, timeout_seconds=300):
+          def wait_for_guest_agent(vmid, timeout_seconds=120):
               deadline = time.time() + timeout_seconds
               tries = 0
               while time.time() < deadline:
@@ -155,8 +156,14 @@ jobs:
                       if res.get("data") == "pong":
                           print(f"Guest agent ready for vmid {vmid}", flush=True)
                           return True
-                  except Exception:
-                      pass
+                  except urllib.error.HTTPError as exc:
+                      detail = exc.read().decode("utf-8", "ignore")
+                      print(f"Agent ping HTTP error for vmid {vmid}: {exc.code} {detail}", flush=True)
+                      if exc.code in (401, 403):
+                          return False
+                  except Exception as exc:
+                      if tries == 1:
+                          print(f"Agent ping error for vmid {vmid}: {exc}", flush=True)
                   if tries % 6 == 0:
                       remaining = int(deadline - time.time())
                       print(f"Waiting for guest agent on vmid {vmid} ({remaining}s left)", flush=True)