diff --git a/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py b/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
index c9e50558e339b4a5aba514b2c9ac3048e250fd57..836e9e4b0b7f385e63481d4c2fbc8e8dd42f64c2 100755
--- a/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
+++ b/src/mpsd_software_manager/mpsd_software.py
@@ -393,7 +393,9 @@ def get_available_package_sets(mpsd_release: str) -> List[str]:
 
     # find package_sets by cloning repository and checking out right branch
     clone_repo(
-        tmp_dir_path, config_vars["spack_environments_repo"], branch=mpsd_release
+        tmp_dir_path,
+        config_vars["spack_environments_repo"],
+        branch=f"releases/{mpsd_release}",
     )
     # look for directories defining the package_sets
 
@@ -802,7 +804,7 @@ def prepare_environment(mpsd_release: str, root_dir: Path) -> List[str]:
     else:
         repo_url = config_vars["spack_environments_repo"]
         logging.info(f"cloning repository {repo_path} from {repo_url}")
-        clone_repo(repo_path, repo_url, branch=mpsd_release)
+        clone_repo(repo_path, repo_url, branch=f"releases/{mpsd_release}")
 
     logging.getLogger("print").info(
         f"Release {mpsd_release} is prepared in {release_base_dir}"
diff --git a/tests/test_mpsd_software.py b/tests/test_mpsd_software.py
index 6c6c7134cb5aaec6197ff0e846ab7808ded00886..6c9c8824b35d9dfc31b9109977708fb18d797cd7 100644
--- a/tests/test_mpsd_software.py
+++ b/tests/test_mpsd_software.py
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ def test_prepare_environment(tmp_path):
         capture_output=True,
     )
     git_branch_stdout = git_branch_output_raw.stdout.decode("utf-8")
-    assert f"* {mpsd_release_to_test}" in git_branch_stdout
+    assert f"* releases/{mpsd_release_to_test}" in git_branch_stdout
 
     # check that result is a list and contains atleast ['global','foss2021a-mpi']
     assert isinstance(result, list)
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ def test_record_script_execution_summary(tmp_path):
     # Check that the log file has "Spack environments branch: dev-23a " in the last line
     with open(root_dir / cmd_log_file, "r") as f:
         last_line = f.readlines()[-1]
-        assert "Spack environments branch: dev-23a " in last_line
+        assert "Spack environments branch: releases/dev-23a" in last_line
 
 
 def test_install_environment_wrong_package_set(tmp_path):