diff --git a/.github/workflows/qa.yaml b/.github/workflows/qa.yaml
index 7254ea5cc..bb1d84338 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/qa.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/qa.yaml
@@ -12,11 +12,14 @@ env:
     ca-certificates curl dconf-cli gcc gettext git libnss-wrapper libsmbclient-dev
     libkrb5-dev libwbclient-dev pkg-config python3-coverage samba sudo
     libglib2.0-dev gvfs libpam0g-dev
+  # Put the runner env variable here instead of GH project config as it’s not available to the forked repositories
+  # otherwise when submitting PRs: https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/44322.
+  RUNNER: ubuntu-24.04
 
 jobs:
   sanity:
     name: Code sanity
-    runs-on: ${{ vars.RUNNER }}
+    runs-on: ${{ env.RUNNER }}
     steps:
       - name: Install dependencies
         run: |