diff --git a/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c b/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c
index 0fbc43c90a..99abd02e1d 100644
--- a/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c
+++ b/tests/qemucapabilitiestest.c
@@ -160,7 +160,7 @@ static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
-    virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt;
+    virQEMUDriver driver;
     testQemuData data;
 
 #if !WITH_YAJL
@@ -169,12 +169,12 @@ mymain(void)
 #endif
 
     if (virThreadInitialize() < 0 ||
-        !(xmlopt = virQEMUDriverCreateXMLConf(NULL)))
+        qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
     virEventRegisterDefaultImpl();
 
-    data.xmlopt = xmlopt;
+    data.xmlopt = driver.xmlopt;
 
 #define DO_TEST(name)                                   \
     do {                                                \
@@ -191,7 +191,8 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("caps_1.6.50-1");
     DO_TEST("caps_2.1.1-1");
 
-    virObjectUnref(xmlopt);
+    qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
+
     return (ret == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/qemumonitorjsontest.c b/tests/qemumonitorjsontest.c
index ded04234ff..7d4741e4a7 100644
--- a/tests/qemumonitorjsontest.c
+++ b/tests/qemumonitorjsontest.c
@@ -2238,7 +2238,7 @@ static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
-    virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt;
+    virQEMUDriver driver;
     testQemuMonitorJSONSimpleFuncData simpleFunc;
 
 #if !WITH_YAJL
@@ -2247,29 +2247,30 @@ mymain(void)
 #endif
 
     if (virThreadInitialize() < 0 ||
-        !(xmlopt = virQEMUDriverCreateXMLConf(NULL)))
+        qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
     virEventRegisterDefaultImpl();
 
-#define DO_TEST(name)                                                   \
-    if (virtTestRun(# name, testQemuMonitorJSON ## name, xmlopt) < 0)   \
+#define DO_TEST(name)                                                          \
+    if (virtTestRun(# name, testQemuMonitorJSON ## name, driver.xmlopt) < 0)   \
         ret = -1
 
 #define DO_TEST_SIMPLE(CMD, FNC, ...)                                   \
     simpleFunc = (testQemuMonitorJSONSimpleFuncData) {.cmd = CMD, .func = FNC, \
-                                              .xmlopt = xmlopt, __VA_ARGS__ }; \
+                                       .xmlopt = driver.xmlopt, __VA_ARGS__ }; \
     if (virtTestRun(# FNC, testQemuMonitorJSONSimpleFunc, &simpleFunc) < 0)    \
         ret = -1
 
 #define DO_TEST_GEN(name, ...) \
-    simpleFunc = (testQemuMonitorJSONSimpleFuncData) {.xmlopt = xmlopt, __VA_ARGS__ }; \
-    if (virtTestRun(# name, testQemuMonitorJSON ## name, &simpleFunc) < 0) \
+    simpleFunc = (testQemuMonitorJSONSimpleFuncData) {.xmlopt = driver.xmlopt, \
+                                                     __VA_ARGS__ };            \
+    if (virtTestRun(# name, testQemuMonitorJSON ## name, &simpleFunc) < 0)     \
         ret = -1
 
 #define DO_TEST_CPU_DATA(name) \
     do {                                                                  \
-        struct testCPUData data = { name, xmlopt };                       \
+        struct testCPUData data = { name, driver.xmlopt };                \
         const char *label = "GetCPUData(" name ")";                       \
         if (virtTestRun(label, testQemuMonitorJSONGetCPUData, &data) < 0) \
             ret = -1;                                                     \
@@ -2347,7 +2348,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST_CPU_DATA("host");
     DO_TEST_CPU_DATA("full");
 
-    virObjectUnref(xmlopt);
+    qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
 
     return (ret == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
diff --git a/tests/qemumonitortest.c b/tests/qemumonitortest.c
index 12308f9c35..324021a2f7 100644
--- a/tests/qemumonitortest.c
+++ b/tests/qemumonitortest.c
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 # include "qemu/qemu_monitor.h"
 # include "qemu/qemu_monitor_text.h"
 # include "qemumonitortestutils.h"
+# include "testutilsqemu.h"
 
 # define VIR_FROM_THIS VIR_FROM_NONE
 
@@ -164,11 +165,11 @@ testMonitorTextBlockInfo(const void *opaque)
 static int
 mymain(void)
 {
-    virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt;
+    virQEMUDriver driver;
     int result = 0;
 
     if (virThreadInitialize() < 0 ||
-        !(xmlopt = virQEMUDriverCreateXMLConf(NULL)))
+        qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
     virEventRegisterDefaultImpl();
@@ -176,7 +177,7 @@ mymain(void)
 # define DO_TEST(_name)                                                 \
     do {                                                                \
         if (virtTestRun("qemu monitor "#_name, test##_name,             \
-                        xmlopt) < 0) {                                  \
+                        driver.xmlopt) < 0) {                           \
             result = -1;                                                \
         }                                                               \
     } while (0)
@@ -185,7 +186,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST(UnescapeArg);
     DO_TEST(MonitorTextBlockInfo);
 
-    virObjectUnref(xmlopt);
+    qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
 
     return result == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
diff --git a/tests/securityselinuxlabeltest.c b/tests/securityselinuxlabeltest.c
index 4808eea386..4b8fa6f25e 100644
--- a/tests/securityselinuxlabeltest.c
+++ b/tests/securityselinuxlabeltest.c
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
 VIR_LOG_INIT("tests.securityselinuxlabeltest");
 
 static virCapsPtr caps;
-static virDomainXMLOptionPtr xmlopt;
+static virQEMUDriver driver;
 
 static virSecurityManagerPtr mgr;
 
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ testSELinuxLoadDef(const char *testname)
                     abs_srcdir, testname) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
 
-    if (!(def = virDomainDefParseFile(xmlfile, caps, xmlopt, 0)))
+    if (!(def = virDomainDefParseFile(xmlfile, caps, driver.xmlopt, 0)))
         goto cleanup;
 
     for (i = 0; i < def->ndisks; i++) {
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ mymain(void)
     if ((caps = testQemuCapsInit()) == NULL)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
-    if (!(xmlopt = virQEMUDriverCreateXMLConf(NULL)))
+    if (qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
 #define DO_TEST_LABELING(name)                                           \
@@ -375,6 +375,8 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST_LABELING("chardev");
     DO_TEST_LABELING("nfs");
 
+    qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
+
     return (ret == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }