diff --git a/.github/workflows/tls.yaml b/.github/workflows/tls.yaml
index 478fa0369c..009bbc3f69 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tls.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tls.yaml
@@ -29,12 +29,15 @@ jobs:
           ../scripts/gen_certs.sh
           htpasswd -bBn test test123 > htpasswd
       - name: Check for TLS settings
-        continue-on-error: true
         run: |
           cd $GITHUB_WORKSPACE
           make binary
-          bin/zot-linux-amd64 serve examples/config-tls.json &
+          bin/zot-linux-amd64 serve examples/config-tls.json & echo $! > zot.PID
           sleep 5
+          # Check if zot server is running
+          cat /proc/$(cat zot.PID)/status | grep State || exit 1
+
+          # zot server is running: proceed to testing
           curl -kv --tls-max 1.0 -0  https://localhost:8080/v2/
           if [[ "$?" -eq 0 ]]; then echo "TLSv1.0 detected"; exit 1; fi
           curl -kv --tls-max 1.1 -0  https://localhost:8080/v2/
diff --git a/examples/config-tls.json b/examples/config-tls.json
index 703c1a3fb4..1c80ad2e02 100644
--- a/examples/config-tls.json
+++ b/examples/config-tls.json
@@ -8,8 +8,8 @@
     "port": "8080",
     "realm": "zot",
     "tls": {
-      "cert": "../../test/data/server.cert",
-      "key": "../../test/data/server.key"
+      "cert": "test/data/server.cert",
+      "key": "test/data/server.key"
     }
   },
   "log": {