diff --git a/scripts/ci/end-to-end-tests.sh b/scripts/ci/end-to-end-tests.sh
index 4968bc4f72..85257420e3 100644
--- a/scripts/ci/end-to-end-tests.sh
+++ b/scripts/ci/end-to-end-tests.sh
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@ ln -s $REACT_SDK_DIR/$RIOT_WEB_DIR riot/riot-web
 # CHROME_PATH=$(which google-chrome-stable) ./run.sh
 echo "--- Install synapse & other dependencies"
 ./install.sh
+# install (only) static webserver to server symlinked local copy of riot
+./riot/install.sh --without-riot
 mkdir logs
 echo "+++ Running end-to-end tests"
 TESTS_STARTED=1
diff --git a/test/end-to-end-tests/riot/install.sh b/test/end-to-end-tests/riot/install.sh
old mode 100755
new mode 100644
index 8a942a05ea..9495234bcc
--- a/test/end-to-end-tests/riot/install.sh
+++ b/test/end-to-end-tests/riot/install.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,14 @@
 set -e
 RIOT_BRANCH=develop
 
+with_riot=1
+
+for i in $@; do
+    if [ "$i" == "--without-riot" ] ; then
+        with_riot=0
+    fi
+done
+
 BASE_DIR=$(cd $(dirname $0) && pwd)
 cd $BASE_DIR
 # Install ComplexHttpServer (a drop in replacement for Python's SimpleHttpServer
@@ -26,10 +34,12 @@ if [ -d $BASE_DIR/riot-web ]; then
     exit
 fi
 
-curl -L https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web/archive/${RIOT_BRANCH}.zip --output riot.zip
-unzip -q riot.zip
-rm riot.zip
-mv riot-web-${RIOT_BRANCH} riot-web
-cd riot-web
-yarn install
-yarn run build
+if [ $with_riot -eq 1 ]; then
+    curl -L https://github.com/vector-im/riot-web/archive/${RIOT_BRANCH}.zip --output riot.zip
+    unzip -q riot.zip
+    rm riot.zip
+    mv riot-web-${RIOT_BRANCH} riot-web
+    cd riot-web
+    yarn install
+    yarn run build
+fi