diff --git a/test/smoke/src/main.ts b/test/smoke/src/main.ts
index 0c340e52f52..31dbaf71149 100644
--- a/test/smoke/src/main.ts
+++ b/test/smoke/src/main.ts
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ const testDataPath = tmpDir.name;
 process.once('exit', () => rimraf.sync(testDataPath));
 
 const [, , ...args] = process.argv;
-const opts = minimist(args, { string: ['build', 'stable-build', 'screenshots'] });
+const opts = minimist(args, { string: ['build', 'stable-build', 'screenshots', 'wait-time'] });
 
 opts.screenshots = opts.screenshots === '' ? path.join(testDataPath, 'screenshots') : opts.screenshots;
 
@@ -99,6 +99,7 @@ process.env.SMOKETEST_REPO = testRepoLocalDir;
 process.env.VSCODE_WORKSPACE_PATH = workspacePath;
 process.env.VSCODE_KEYBINDINGS_PATH = keybindingsPath;
 process.env.SCREENSHOTS_DIR = opts.screenshots || '';
+process.env.WAIT_TIME = opts['wait-time'] || '20';
 
 if (process.env.VSCODE_DEV === '1') {
 	process.env.VSCODE_EDITION = 'dev';
diff --git a/test/smoke/src/spectron/application.ts b/test/smoke/src/spectron/application.ts
index 3003ad88773..77ef6fd4207 100644
--- a/test/smoke/src/spectron/application.ts
+++ b/test/smoke/src/spectron/application.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ export const USER_DIR = process.env.VSCODE_USER_DIR as string;
 export const EXTENSIONS_DIR = process.env.VSCODE_EXTENSIONS_DIR as string;
 export const VSCODE_EDITION = process.env.VSCODE_EDITION as string;
 export const SCREENSHOTS_DIR = process.env.SCREENSHOTS_DIR as string;
+export const WAIT_TIME = parseInt(process.env.WAIT_TIME as string);
 
 export enum VSCODE_BUILD {
 	DEV,
diff --git a/test/smoke/src/spectron/client.ts b/test/smoke/src/spectron/client.ts
index 7450ff9375b..66c32d1794d 100644
--- a/test/smoke/src/spectron/client.ts
+++ b/test/smoke/src/spectron/client.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 import { Application } from 'spectron';
 import { RawResult, Element } from 'webdriverio';
-import { SpectronApplication } from './application';
+import { SpectronApplication, WAIT_TIME } from './application';
 
 /**
  * Abstracts the Spectron's WebdriverIO managed client property on the created Application instances.
@@ -14,10 +14,11 @@ export class SpectronClient {
 
 	// waitFor calls should not take more than 200 * 100 = 20 seconds to complete, excluding
 	// the time it takes for the actual retry call to complete
-	private readonly retryCount = 200;
+	private readonly retryCount;
 	private readonly retryDuration = 100; // in milliseconds
 
 	constructor(public spectron: Application, private application: SpectronApplication) {
+		this.retryCount = (WAIT_TIME * 1000) / this.retryDuration;
 	}
 
 	public windowByIndex(index: number): Promise<any> {