diff --git a/libpod/container_commit.go b/libpod/container_commit.go
index 43bb56a40c..c2d43928b9 100644
--- a/libpod/container_commit.go
+++ b/libpod/container_commit.go
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ func (c *Container) Commit(ctx context.Context, destImage string, options Contai
 		SignaturePolicyPath:   options.SignaturePolicyPath,
 		ReportWriter:          options.ReportWriter,
 		Squash:                options.Squash,
-		SystemContext:         c.runtime.imageContext,
+		SystemContext:         &c.runtime.imageContext,
 		PreferredManifestType: options.PreferredManifestType,
 		OverrideChanges:       append(append([]string{}, options.Changes...), options.CommitOptions.OverrideChanges...),
 		OverrideConfig:        options.CommitOptions.OverrideConfig,
diff --git a/libpod/container_internal.go b/libpod/container_internal.go
index 614baa4302..8ff174a251 100644
--- a/libpod/container_internal.go
+++ b/libpod/container_internal.go
@@ -512,7 +512,7 @@ func (c *Container) setupStorage(ctx context.Context) error {
 			}
 			c.config.Name = name
 		}
-		containerInfo, containerInfoErr = c.runtime.storageService.CreateContainerStorage(ctx, c.runtime.imageContext, c.config.RootfsImageName, c.config.RootfsImageID, c.config.Name, c.config.ID, options)
+		containerInfo, containerInfoErr = c.runtime.storageService.CreateContainerStorage(ctx, &c.runtime.imageContext, c.config.RootfsImageName, c.config.RootfsImageID, c.config.Name, c.config.ID, options)
 
 		if !generateName || !errors.Is(containerInfoErr, storage.ErrDuplicateName) {
 			break
diff --git a/libpod/container_internal_common.go b/libpod/container_internal_common.go
index 02ca34f282..de3a8d65e4 100644
--- a/libpod/container_internal_common.go
+++ b/libpod/container_internal_common.go
@@ -1108,7 +1108,7 @@ func (c *Container) createCheckpointImage(ctx context.Context, options Container
 
 	commitOptions := buildah.CommitOptions{
 		Squash:        true,
-		SystemContext: c.runtime.imageContext,
+		SystemContext: &c.runtime.imageContext,
 	}
 
 	// Create checkpoint image
diff --git a/libpod/options.go b/libpod/options.go
index 61490e8e0f..38f4f3ee17 100644
--- a/libpod/options.go
+++ b/libpod/options.go
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ import (
 	"go.podman.io/common/pkg/config"
 	"go.podman.io/common/pkg/secrets"
 	"go.podman.io/image/v5/manifest"
-	"go.podman.io/image/v5/types"
 	"go.podman.io/storage"
 	"go.podman.io/storage/pkg/fileutils"
 	"go.podman.io/storage/pkg/idtools"
@@ -221,9 +220,6 @@ func WithRegistriesConf(path string) RuntimeOption {
 		if err := fileutils.Exists(path); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("locating specified registries.conf: %w", err)
 		}
-		if rt.imageContext == nil {
-			rt.imageContext = &types.SystemContext{}
-		}
 
 		rt.imageContext.SystemRegistriesConfPath = path
 		return nil
diff --git a/libpod/runtime.go b/libpod/runtime.go
index f84a89042b..2a6e052c05 100644
--- a/libpod/runtime.go
+++ b/libpod/runtime.go
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ type Runtime struct {
 	state                  State
 	store                  storage.Store
 	storageService         *storageService
-	imageContext           *types.SystemContext
+	imageContext           types.SystemContext
 	defaultOCIRuntime      OCIRuntime
 	ociRuntimes            map[string]OCIRuntime
 	runtimeFlags           []string
@@ -436,10 +436,8 @@ func makeRuntime(ctx context.Context, runtime *Runtime) (retErr error) {
 	runtime.eventer = eventer
 
 	// Set up containers/image
-	if runtime.imageContext == nil {
-		runtime.imageContext = &types.SystemContext{
-			BigFilesTemporaryDir: parse.GetTempDir(),
-		}
+	if runtime.imageContext.BigFilesTemporaryDir == "" {
+		runtime.imageContext.BigFilesTemporaryDir = parse.GetTempDir()
 	}
 	runtime.imageContext.SignaturePolicyPath = runtime.config.Engine.SignaturePolicyPath
 
@@ -910,7 +908,7 @@ func (r *Runtime) configureStore() error {
 	r.storageService = getStorageService(r.store)
 
 	runtimeOptions := &libimage.RuntimeOptions{
-		SystemContext: r.imageContext,
+		SystemContext: &r.imageContext,
 	}
 	libimageRuntime, err := libimage.RuntimeFromStore(store, runtimeOptions)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/libpod/runtime_volume_common.go b/libpod/runtime_volume_common.go
index 8717dbd9e7..bdcb40aa1a 100644
--- a/libpod/runtime_volume_common.go
+++ b/libpod/runtime_volume_common.go
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ func (r *Runtime) newVolume(ctx context.Context, noCreatePluginVolume bool, opti
 			}
 			storageConfig.LabelOpts = []string{fmt.Sprintf("filetype:%s", context["type"])}
 		}
-		if _, err := r.storageService.CreateContainerStorage(ctx, r.imageContext, imgString, image.ID(), volume.config.StorageName, volume.config.StorageID, storageConfig); err != nil {
+		if _, err := r.storageService.CreateContainerStorage(ctx, &r.imageContext, imgString, image.ID(), volume.config.StorageName, volume.config.StorageID, storageConfig); err != nil {
 			return nil, fmt.Errorf("creating backing storage for image driver: %w", err)
 		}
 		defer func() {