diff --git a/common/populate b/common/populate
index 4135d89d..8f42a528 100644
--- a/common/populate
+++ b/common/populate
@@ -230,7 +230,7 @@ _scratch_xfs_populate() {
 	# Char & block
 	echo "+ special"
 	mknod "${SCRATCH_MNT}/S_IFCHR" c 1 1
-	mknod "${SCRATCH_MNT}/S_IFBLK" c 1 1
+	mknod "${SCRATCH_MNT}/S_IFBLK" b 1 1
 
 	# special file with an xattr
 	setfacl -P -m u:nobody:r ${SCRATCH_MNT}/S_IFCHR
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ _scratch_ext4_populate() {
 	# Char & block
 	echo "+ special"
 	mknod "${SCRATCH_MNT}/S_IFCHR" c 1 1
-	mknod "${SCRATCH_MNT}/S_IFBLK" c 1 1
+	mknod "${SCRATCH_MNT}/S_IFBLK" b 1 1
 
 	# special file with an xattr
 	setfacl -P -m u:nobody:r ${SCRATCH_MNT}/S_IFCHR