diff --git a/tasks/configure-vm.yml b/tasks/configure-vm.yml
index f184cd4..48ac0b2 100644
--- a/tasks/configure-vm.yml
+++ b/tasks/configure-vm.yml
@@ -130,6 +130,12 @@
         mode: "0644"
       register: vendor_snippet
 
+    - name: "[CONFIG] Verify SSH key is readable"
+      ansible.builtin.stat:
+        path: "{{ ssh_keys_file | expanduser }}"
+      register: ssh_key_stat
+      failed_when: not ssh_key_stat.stat.readable
+
     - name: "[CONFIG] Create Cloud-Init user-data snippet"
       ansible.builtin.template:
         src: cloudinit_userdata.yaml.j2
@@ -137,12 +143,6 @@
         mode: "0644"
       register: user_snippet
 
-    - name: "[CONFIG] Verify SSH key is readable"
-      ansible.builtin.stat:
-        path: "{{ ssh_keys_file | expanduser }}"
-      register: ssh_key_stat
-      failed_when: not ssh_key_stat.stat.readable
-
     - name: "[CONFIG] Copy SSH public key to snippets"
       ansible.builtin.copy:
         src: "{{ ssh_keys_file | expanduser }}"