diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/mirror-images/qe-test-images/mirror-images-qe-test-images-commands.sh b/ci-operator/step-registry/mirror-images/qe-test-images/mirror-images-qe-test-images-commands.sh
index 1d29fd0c7d64..15e79366e8db 100755
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/mirror-images/qe-test-images/mirror-images-qe-test-images-commands.sh
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/mirror-images/qe-test-images/mirror-images-qe-test-images-commands.sh
@@ -8,21 +8,22 @@ trap 'CHILDREN=$(jobs -p); if test -n "${CHILDREN}"; then kill ${CHILDREN} && wa
 
 new_pull_secret="${SHARED_DIR}/new_pull_secret"
 
+if [ ! -f "${SHARED_DIR}/mirror_registry_url" ]; then
+    echo "File ${SHARED_DIR}/mirror_registry_url does not exist, skipping..."
+    exit 0
+fi
 # private mirror registry host
 # <public_dns>:<port>
 MIRROR_REGISTRY_HOST=`head -n 1 "${SHARED_DIR}/mirror_registry_url"`
-if [ ! -f "${SHARED_DIR}/mirror_registry_url" ]; then
-    echo "File ${SHARED_DIR}/mirror_registry_url does not exist."
-    exit 1
-fi
 echo "MIRROR_REGISTRY_HOST: $MIRROR_REGISTRY_HOST"
 
 # since ci-operator gives steps KUBECONFIG pointing to cluster under test under some circumstances,
 # unset KUBECONFIG to ensure this step always interact with the build farm.
 unset KUBECONFIG
 
-# Create qe test image list
-cat <<EOF > "/tmp/mirror-images-list.yaml"
+if [ "${QE_IMAGES}" == "true" ]; then
+    echo "Create qe test image list"
+    cat <<EOF > "/tmp/mirror-images-list.yaml"
 quay.io/openshifttest/iperf3:latest=MIRROR_REGISTRY_PLACEHOLDER/openshifttest/iperf3:latest
 quay.io/openshifttest/hello-sdn:1.2.0=MIRROR_REGISTRY_PLACEHOLDER/openshifttest/hello-sdn:1.2.0
 quay.io/openshifttest/hello-openshift-fedora:latest=MIRROR_REGISTRY_PLACEHOLDER/openshifttest/hello-openshift-fedora:latest
@@ -98,6 +99,18 @@ quay.io/openshifttest/uiauto-operators-index:1.2.0=MIRROR_REGISTRY_PLACEHOLDER/o
 quay.io/openshifttest/ui-auto-operators:latest=MIRROR_REGISTRY_PLACEHOLDER/openshifttest/ui-auto-operators:latest
 quay.io/openshifttest/prometheus-example-app:multiarch=MIRROR_REGISTRY_PLACEHOLDER/openshifttest/prometheus-example-app:multiarch
 EOF
+    # Creating ICSP for quay.io/openshifttest is in enable-qe-catalogsource-disconnected step
+    # Set Node CA for Mirror Registry is in enable-qe-catalogsource-disconnected step
+    sed -i "s/MIRROR_REGISTRY_PLACEHOLDER/${MIRROR_REGISTRY_HOST}/g" "/tmp/mirror-images-list.yaml" 
+elif [ -f "${SHARED_DIR}/mirror-images-list.yaml" ]; then
+    echo "${SHARED_DIR}/mirror-images-list.yaml was found and will be used"
+    cp "${SHARED_DIR}/mirror-images-list.yaml" "/tmp/mirror-images-list.yaml"
+    # Format must be SRC=DEST
+    sed -i 's/ /=/g' "/tmp/mirror-images-list.yaml"
+else
+    echo "No images to mirror."
+    exit 0
+fi
 
 # combine custom registry credential and default pull secret
 registry_cred=`head -n 1 "/var/run/vault/mirror-registry/registry_creds" | base64 -w 0`
@@ -107,16 +120,23 @@ openshifttest_auth_password=$(cat "/var/run/vault/mirror-registry/registry_quay_
 openshifttest_registry_auth=`echo -n "${openshifttest_auth_user}:${openshifttest_auth_password}" | base64 -w 0`
 jq --argjson a "{\"${MIRROR_REGISTRY_HOST}\": {\"auth\": \"$registry_cred\"},\"quay.io/openshifttest\": {\"auth\": \"${openshifttest_registry_auth}\"}}" '.auths |= . + $a' "${CLUSTER_PROFILE_DIR}/pull-secret" > "${new_pull_secret}"
 
-# MIRROR IMAGES
-# Creating ICSP for quay.io/openshifttest is in enable-qe-catalogsource-disconnected step
-# Set Node CA for Mirror Registry is in enable-qe-catalogsource-disconnected step
-sed -i "s/MIRROR_REGISTRY_PLACEHOLDER/${MIRROR_REGISTRY_HOST}/g" "/tmp/mirror-images-list.yaml" 
+# For disconnected or otherwise unreachable environments, we want to
+# have steps use an HTTP(S) proxy to reach the API server. This proxy
+# configuration file should export HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, and NO_PROXY
+# environment variables, as well as their lowercase equivalents (note
+# that libcurl doesn't recognize the uppercase variables).
+if test -f "${SHARED_DIR}/proxy-conf.sh"
+then
+    # shellcheck disable=SC1090
+    source "${SHARED_DIR}/proxy-conf.sh"
+fi
 
-# To avoid 409 too many request error, mirroring image one by one
-for image in `cat /tmp/mirror-images-list.yaml`
-do
-    oc image mirror $image  --insecure=true -a "${new_pull_secret}" \
- --skip-missing=true --skip-verification=true --keep-manifest-list=true --filter-by-os='.*'
-done
+# MIRROR IMAGES
+ # To avoid 409 too many request error, mirroring image one by one
+ for image in `cat /tmp/mirror-images-list.yaml`
+ do
+     oc image mirror $image  --insecure=true -a "${new_pull_secret}" \
+         --skip-missing=true --skip-verification=true --keep-manifest-list=true --filter-by-os='.*' --insecure=true
+ done
 
 rm -f "${new_pull_secret}"
diff --git a/ci-operator/step-registry/mirror-images/qe-test-images/mirror-images-qe-test-images-ref.yaml b/ci-operator/step-registry/mirror-images/qe-test-images/mirror-images-qe-test-images-ref.yaml
index 079179cba28d..232cdeb02e4f 100644
--- a/ci-operator/step-registry/mirror-images/qe-test-images/mirror-images-qe-test-images-ref.yaml
+++ b/ci-operator/step-registry/mirror-images/qe-test-images/mirror-images-qe-test-images-ref.yaml
@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@ ref:
     requests:
       cpu: 10m
       memory: 100Mi
+  env:
+    - name: QE_IMAGES
+      default: 'true'
+      documentation: |-
+        Whether or not mirror QE images. This can be disabled if someone wants
+        to pre-create "${SHARED_DIR}/mirror-images-list.yaml" and mirror
+        these images instead.
   credentials:
   - namespace: test-credentials
     name: openshift-custom-mirror-registry