--- a/testing/web-platform/mach_commands.py
+++ b/testing/web-platform/mach_commands.py
@@ -135,16 +135,18 @@ class WebPlatformTestsUpdater(MozbuildOb
         import update
         from update import updatecommandline
 
         if kwargs["config"] is None:
             kwargs["config"] = os.path.join(self.topsrcdir, 'testing', 'web-platform', 'wptrunner.ini')
         if kwargs["product"] is None:
             kwargs["product"] = "firefox"
 
+        kwargs["store_state"] = False
+
         kwargs = updatecommandline.check_args(kwargs)
         logger = update.setup_logging(kwargs, {"mach": sys.stdout})
 
         try:
             update.run_update(logger, **kwargs)
         except Exception:
             import pdb
             import traceback

--- a/testing/web-platform/tests/tools/wptrunner/wptrunner/update/state.py
+++ b/testing/web-platform/tests/tools/wptrunner/wptrunner/update/state.py
@@ -1,33 +1,27 @@
 import os
 import cPickle as pickle
 
 here = os.path.abspath(os.path.split(__file__)[0])
 
-class State(object):
-    filename = os.path.join(here, ".wpt-update.lock")
 
+class BaseState(object):
     def __new__(cls, logger):
         rv = cls.load(logger)
         if rv is not None:
             logger.debug("Existing state found")
             return rv
 
         logger.debug("No existing state found")
         return object.__new__(cls, logger)
 
     def __init__(self, logger):
         """Object containing state variables created when running Steps.
 
-        On write the state is serialized to disk, such that it can be restored in
-        the event that the program is interrupted before all steps are complete.
-        Note that this only works well if the values are immutable; mutating an
-        existing value will not cause the data to be serialized.
-
         Variables are set and get as attributes e.g. state_obj.spam = "eggs".
 
         :param parent: Parent State object or None if this is the root object.
         """
 
         if hasattr(self, "_data"):
             return
 
@@ -35,59 +29,32 @@ class State(object):
         self._logger = logger
         self._index = 0
 
     def __getstate__(self):
         rv = self.__dict__.copy()
         del rv["_logger"]
         return rv
 
-    @classmethod
-    def load(cls, logger):
-        """Load saved state from a file"""
-        try:
-            if not os.path.isfile(cls.filename):
-                return None
-            with open(cls.filename) as f:
-                try:
-                    rv = pickle.load(f)
-                    logger.debug("Loading data %r" % (rv._data,))
-                    rv._logger = logger
-                    rv._index = 0
-                    return rv
-                except EOFError:
-                    logger.warning("Found empty state file")
-        except IOError:
-            logger.debug("IOError loading stored state")
 
     def push(self, init_values):
         """Push a new clean state dictionary
 
         :param init_values: List of variable names in the current state dict to copy
                             into the new state dict."""
 
         return StateContext(self, init_values)
 
-    def save(self):
-        """Write the state to disk"""
-        with open(self.filename, "w") as f:
-            pickle.dump(self, f)
-
     def is_empty(self):
         return len(self._data) == 1 and self._data[0] == {}
 
     def clear(self):
         """Remove all state and delete the stored copy."""
-        try:
-            os.unlink(self.filename)
-        except OSError:
-            pass
         self._data = [{}]
 
-
     def __setattr__(self, key, value):
         if key.startswith("_"):
             object.__setattr__(self, key, value)
         else:
             self._data[self._index][key] = value
             self.save()
 
     def __getattr__(self, key):
@@ -104,16 +71,70 @@ class State(object):
     def update(self, items):
         """Add a dictionary of {name: value} pairs to the state"""
         self._data[self._index].update(items)
         self.save()
 
     def keys(self):
         return self._data[self._index].keys()
 
+    @classmethod
+    def load(self):
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+    def save(self):
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+
+class SavedState(BaseState):
+    """On write the state is serialized to disk, such that it can be restored in
+       the event that the program is interrupted before all steps are complete.
+       Note that this only works well if the values are immutable; mutating an
+       existing value will not cause the data to be serialized."""
+
+    @classmethod
+    def load(cls, logger):
+        """Load saved state from a file"""
+        try:
+            if not os.path.isfile(cls.filename):
+                return None
+            with open(cls.filename) as f:
+                try:
+                    rv = pickle.load(f)
+                    logger.debug("Loading data %r" % (rv._data,))
+                    rv._logger = logger
+                    rv._index = 0
+                    return rv
+                except EOFError:
+                    logger.warning("Found empty state file")
+        except IOError:
+            logger.debug("IOError loading stored state")
+
+    def save(self):
+        """Write the state to disk"""
+        with open(self.filename, "w") as f:
+            pickle.dump(self, f)
+
+    def clear(self):
+        super(SavedState, self).clear()
+        try:
+            os.unlink(self.filename)
+        except OSError:
+            pass
+
+
+class UnsavedState(BaseState):
+    @classmethod
+    def load(cls, logger):
+        return None
+
+    def save(self):
+        return
+
+
 class StateContext(object):
     def __init__(self, state, init_values):
         self.state = state
         self.init_values = init_values
 
     def __enter__(self):
         if len(self.state._data) == self.state._index + 1:
             # This is the case where there is no stored state

--- a/testing/web-platform/tests/tools/wptrunner/wptrunner/update/update.py
+++ b/testing/web-platform/tests/tools/wptrunner/wptrunner/update/update.py
@@ -1,22 +1,24 @@
 import os
 import sys
 
 from metadata import MetadataUpdateRunner
 from sync import SyncFromUpstreamRunner
 from tree import GitTree, HgTree, NoVCSTree
 
 from base import Step, StepRunner, exit_clean, exit_unclean
-from state import State
+from state import SavedState, UnsavedState
+
 
 def setup_paths(sync_path):
     sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath(sync_path))
     from tools import localpaths  # noqa: flake8
 
+
 class LoadConfig(Step):
     """Step for loading configuration from the ini file and kwargs."""
 
     provides = ["sync", "paths", "metadata_path", "tests_path"]
 
     def create(self, state):
         state.sync = {"remote_url": state.kwargs["remote_url"],
                       "branch": state.kwargs["branch"],
@@ -117,17 +119,20 @@ class WPTUpdate(object):
 
         if not kwargs["sync"]:
             setup_paths(self.serve_root)
         else:
             if os.path.exists(kwargs["sync_path"]):
                 # If the sync path doesn't exist we defer this until it does
                 setup_paths(kwargs["sync_path"])
 
-        self.state = State(logger)
+        if kwargs["store_state"]:
+            self.state = SavedState(logger)
+        else:
+            self.state = UnsavedState(logger)
         self.kwargs = kwargs
         self.logger = logger
 
     def run(self, **kwargs):
         if self.kwargs["abort"]:
             self.abort()
             return exit_clean
 

--- a/testing/web-platform/tests/tools/wptrunner/wptrunner/wptcommandline.py
+++ b/testing/web-platform/tests/tools/wptrunner/wptrunner/wptcommandline.py
@@ -549,18 +549,22 @@ def create_parser_update(product_choices
                         help="Don't create a VCS commit containing the changes.")
     parser.add_argument("--sync", dest="sync", action="store_true", default=False,
                         help="Sync the tests with the latest from upstream (implies --patch)")
     parser.add_argument("--ignore-existing", action="store_true",
                         help="When updating test results only consider results from the logfiles provided, not existing expectations.")
     parser.add_argument("--stability", nargs="?", action="store", const="unstable", default=None,
         help=("Reason for disabling tests. When updating test results, disable tests that have "
               "inconsistent results across many runs with the given reason."))
-    parser.add_argument("--continue", action="store_true", help="Continue a previously started run of the update script")
-    parser.add_argument("--abort", action="store_true", help="Clear state from a previous incomplete run of the update script")
+    parser.add_argument("--no-store-state", action="store_false", dest="store_state",
+                        help="Store state so that steps can be resumed after failure")
+    parser.add_argument("--continue", action="store_true",
+                        help="Continue a previously started run of the update script")
+    parser.add_argument("--abort", action="store_true",
+                        help="Clear state from a previous incomplete run of the update script")
     parser.add_argument("--exclude", action="store", nargs="*",
                         help="List of glob-style paths to exclude when syncing tests")
     parser.add_argument("--include", action="store", nargs="*",
                         help="List of glob-style paths to include which would otherwise be excluded when syncing tests")
     parser.add_argument("--extra-property", action="append", default=[],
                         help="Extra property from run_info.json to use in metadata update")
     # Should make this required iff run=logfile
     parser.add_argument("run_log", nargs="*", type=abs_path,