diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/block_io.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/block_io.rs
index 831f2c0744..9ed518980f 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/block_io.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/block_io.rs
@@ -156,7 +156,9 @@ impl FileBlockReader<VirtualFile> {
     /// Read a page from the underlying file into given buffer.
     async fn fill_buffer(&self, buf: &mut [u8], blkno: u32) -> Result<(), std::io::Error> {
         assert!(buf.len() == PAGE_SZ);
-        self.file.read_exact_at(buf, blkno as u64 * PAGE_SZ as u64)
+        self.file
+            .read_exact_at(buf, blkno as u64 * PAGE_SZ as u64)
+            .await
     }
     /// Read a block.
     ///
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/ephemeral_file.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/ephemeral_file.rs
index 1edb86f857..4c5fe424f3 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/ephemeral_file.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/ephemeral_file.rs
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@ impl EphemeralFile {
                         let buf: &mut [u8] = write_guard.deref_mut();
                         debug_assert_eq!(buf.len(), PAGE_SZ);
                         self.file
-                            .read_exact_at(&mut buf[..], blknum as u64 * PAGE_SZ as u64)?;
+                            .read_exact_at(&mut buf[..], blknum as u64 * PAGE_SZ as u64)
+                            .await?;
                         write_guard.mark_valid();
 
                         // Swap for read lock
diff --git a/pageserver/src/tenant/manifest.rs b/pageserver/src/tenant/manifest.rs
index fef66abd4f..acc2b709ff 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/tenant/manifest.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/tenant/manifest.rs
@@ -156,6 +156,7 @@ impl Manifest {
     ) -> Result<(Self, Vec<Operation>, ManifestPartiallyCorrupted), ManifestLoadError> {
         let mut buf = vec![];
         file.read_exact_at(&mut buf, 0)
+            .await
             .map_err(ManifestLoadError::Io)?;
 
         // Read manifest header
diff --git a/pageserver/src/virtual_file.rs b/pageserver/src/virtual_file.rs
index 89543442c0..e519b47bd0 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/virtual_file.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/virtual_file.rs
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ impl VirtualFile {
     }
 
     // Copied from https://doc.rust-lang.org/1.72.0/src/std/os/unix/fs.rs.html#117-135
-    pub fn read_exact_at(&self, mut buf: &mut [u8], mut offset: u64) -> Result<(), Error> {
+    pub async fn read_exact_at(&self, mut buf: &mut [u8], mut offset: u64) -> Result<(), Error> {
         while !buf.is_empty() {
             match self.read_at(buf, offset) {
                 Ok(0) => {
@@ -513,7 +513,6 @@ mod tests {
     use rand::thread_rng;
     use rand::Rng;
     use std::sync::Arc;
-    use std::thread;
 
     enum MaybeVirtualFile {
         VirtualFile(VirtualFile),
@@ -521,9 +520,9 @@ mod tests {
     }
 
     impl MaybeVirtualFile {
-        fn read_exact_at(&self, buf: &mut [u8], offset: u64) -> Result<(), Error> {
+        async fn read_exact_at(&self, buf: &mut [u8], offset: u64) -> Result<(), Error> {
             match self {
-                MaybeVirtualFile::VirtualFile(file) => file.read_exact_at(buf, offset),
+                MaybeVirtualFile::VirtualFile(file) => file.read_exact_at(buf, offset).await,
                 MaybeVirtualFile::File(file) => file.read_exact_at(buf, offset),
             }
         }
@@ -569,7 +568,7 @@ mod tests {
         async fn read_string_at(&mut self, pos: u64, len: usize) -> Result<String, Error> {
             let mut buf = Vec::new();
             buf.resize(len, 0);
-            self.read_exact_at(&mut buf, pos)?;
+            self.read_exact_at(&mut buf, pos).await?;
             Ok(String::from_utf8(buf).unwrap())
         }
     }
@@ -723,28 +722,22 @@ mod tests {
         let files = Arc::new(files);
 
         // Launch many threads, and use the virtual files concurrently in random order.
-        let mut threads = Vec::new();
-        for threadno in 0..THREADS {
-            let builder =
-                thread::Builder::new().name(format!("test_vfile_concurrency thread {}", threadno));
-
+        let rt = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
+            .worker_threads(THREADS)
+            .thread_name("test_vfile_concurrency thread")
+            .build()
+            .unwrap();
+        for _threadno in 0..THREADS {
             let files = files.clone();
-            let thread = builder
-                .spawn(move || {
-                    let mut buf = [0u8; SIZE];
-                    let mut rng = rand::thread_rng();
-                    for _ in 1..1000 {
-                        let f = &files[rng.gen_range(0..files.len())];
-                        f.read_exact_at(&mut buf, 0).unwrap();
-                        assert!(buf == SAMPLE);
-                    }
-                })
-                .unwrap();
-            threads.push(thread);
-        }
-
-        for thread in threads {
-            thread.join().unwrap();
+            rt.spawn(async move {
+                let mut buf = [0u8; SIZE];
+                let mut rng = rand::rngs::OsRng;
+                for _ in 1..1000 {
+                    let f = &files[rng.gen_range(0..files.len())];
+                    f.read_exact_at(&mut buf, 0).await.unwrap();
+                    assert!(buf == SAMPLE);
+                }
+            });
         }
 
         Ok(())