diff --git a/spring-boot-tests/spring-boot-smoke-tests/spring-boot-smoke-test-simple/build.gradle b/spring-boot-tests/spring-boot-smoke-tests/spring-boot-smoke-test-simple/build.gradle
index f8ce30248e6f..841b25c2457e 100644
--- a/spring-boot-tests/spring-boot-smoke-tests/spring-boot-smoke-test-simple/build.gradle
+++ b/spring-boot-tests/spring-boot-smoke-tests/spring-boot-smoke-test-simple/build.gradle
@@ -5,13 +5,13 @@ plugins {
 
 description = "Spring Boot Simple smoke test"
 
-configurations.all {
-	exclude module: "spring-boot-starter-logging"
-}
+//configurations.all {
+//	exclude module: "spring-boot-starter-logging"
+//}
 
 dependencies {
 	implementation(project(":spring-boot-project:spring-boot-starters:spring-boot-starter"))
-	implementation(project(":spring-boot-project:spring-boot-starters:spring-boot-starter-log4j2"))
+//	implementation(project(":spring-boot-project:spring-boot-starters:spring-boot-starter-log4j2"))
 	implementation("jakarta.validation:jakarta.validation-api")
 	implementation("org.hibernate.validator:hibernate-validator") {
 		exclude group: "javax.validation"
diff --git a/spring-boot-tests/spring-boot-smoke-tests/spring-boot-smoke-test-simple/src/main/resources/META-INF/spring.factories b/spring-boot-tests/spring-boot-smoke-tests/spring-boot-smoke-test-simple/src/main/resources/META-INF/spring.factories
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..11f8515a26b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-boot-tests/spring-boot-smoke-tests/spring-boot-smoke-test-simple/src/main/resources/META-INF/spring.factories
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+org.springframework.boot.logging.structured.StructuredLoggingFormat=\
+smoketest.simple.CustomFormat
diff --git a/spring-boot-tests/spring-boot-smoke-tests/spring-boot-smoke-test-simple/src/main/resources/application.properties b/spring-boot-tests/spring-boot-smoke-tests/spring-boot-smoke-test-simple/src/main/resources/application.properties
index f70581d55448..372a76a6cb27 100644
--- a/spring-boot-tests/spring-boot-smoke-tests/spring-boot-smoke-test-simple/src/main/resources/application.properties
+++ b/spring-boot-tests/spring-boot-smoke-tests/spring-boot-smoke-test-simple/src/main/resources/application.properties
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ spring.application.name=simple
 test.name=Phil
 sample.name=Andy
 # TODO MH: Remove
-logging.structured.file=logfmt
+#logging.structured.file=logfmt
 #logging.file.name=/home/mhalbritter/tmp/log.txt
-logging.structured.console=ecs
+#logging.structured.console=custom
 #logging.structured.console=smoketest.simple.CustomFormat