diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c b/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
index a67b6ce607..cf87de187f 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
@@ -594,6 +594,8 @@ testQemuHotplugCpuIndividual(const void *opaque)
     return ret;
 }
 
+#define FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/fakerootdir-XXXXXX"
+
 
 static int
 mymain(void)
@@ -602,8 +604,18 @@ mymain(void)
     int ret = 0;
     struct qemuHotplugTestData data = {0};
     struct testQemuHotplugCpuParams cpudata;
+    g_autofree char *fakerootdir = NULL;
     g_autoptr(virQEMUDriverConfig) cfg = NULL;
 
+    fakerootdir = g_strdup(FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE);
+
+    if (!g_mkdtemp(fakerootdir)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Cannot create fakerootdir");
+        abort();
+    }
+
+    g_setenv("LIBVIRT_FAKE_ROOT_DIR", fakerootdir, TRUE);
+
     if (qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
@@ -879,6 +891,9 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST_CPU_INDIVIDUAL("ppc64-modern-individual", "16-22", true, true, true);
     DO_TEST_CPU_INDIVIDUAL("ppc64-modern-individual", "17", true, true, true);
 
+    if (getenv("LIBVIRT_SKIP_CLEANUP") == NULL)
+        virFileDeleteTree(fakerootdir);
+
     qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
     virObjectUnref(data.vm);
     return (ret == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
diff --git a/tests/qemumemlocktest.c b/tests/qemumemlocktest.c
index 4813c7beb0..3f18fed1c3 100644
--- a/tests/qemumemlocktest.c
+++ b/tests/qemumemlocktest.c
@@ -51,14 +51,28 @@ testCompareMemLock(const void *data)
     return ret;
 }
 
+# define FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/fakerootdir-XXXXXX"
+
 static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
+    char *fakerootdir;
     virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps = NULL;
 
-    if (qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
+    fakerootdir = g_strdup(FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE);
+
+    if (!g_mkdtemp(fakerootdir)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Cannot create fakerootdir");
+        abort();
+    }
+
+    g_setenv("LIBVIRT_FAKE_ROOT_DIR", fakerootdir, TRUE);
+
+    if (qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0) {
+        VIR_FREE(fakerootdir);
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
+    }
 
     driver.privileged = true;
 
@@ -136,7 +150,11 @@ mymain(void)
  cleanup:
     virObjectUnref(qemuCaps);
 
+    if (getenv("LIBVIRT_SKIP_CLEANUP") == NULL)
+        virFileDeleteTree(fakerootdir);
+
     qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
+    VIR_FREE(fakerootdir);
 
     return ret == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 8bd6102d26..04febd1b0c 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -609,12 +609,24 @@ testInfoSetPaths(struct testQemuInfo *info,
                                     abs_srcdir, info->name, suffix ? suffix : "");
 }
 
+# define FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/fakerootdir-XXXXXX"
+
 static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
+    char *fakerootdir;
     virHashTablePtr capslatest = NULL;
 
+    fakerootdir = g_strdup(FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE);
+
+    if (!g_mkdtemp(fakerootdir)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Cannot create fakerootdir");
+        abort();
+    }
+
+    g_setenv("LIBVIRT_FAKE_ROOT_DIR", fakerootdir, TRUE);
+
     /* Set the timezone because we are mocking the time() function.
      * If we don't do that, then localtime() may return unpredictable
      * results. In order to detect things that just work by a blind
@@ -3220,8 +3232,12 @@ mymain(void)
 
     DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST("virtio-9p-multidevs");
 
+    if (getenv("LIBVIRT_SKIP_CLEANUP") == NULL)
+        virFileDeleteTree(fakerootdir);
+
     VIR_FREE(driver.config->nbdTLSx509certdir);
     qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
+    VIR_FREE(fakerootdir);
     virHashFree(capslatest);
     virFileWrapperClearPrefixes();
 
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
index 6a0adab603..86f3d2c1f3 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -126,10 +126,13 @@ testInfoSetStatusPaths(struct testQemuInfo *info)
 }
 
 
+# define FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/fakerootdir-XXXXXX"
+
 static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
+    char *fakerootdir;
     virQEMUDriverConfigPtr cfg = NULL;
     virHashTablePtr capslatest = NULL;
 
@@ -137,6 +140,15 @@ mymain(void)
     if (!capslatest)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
+    fakerootdir = g_strdup(FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE);
+
+    if (!g_mkdtemp(fakerootdir)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Cannot create fakerootdir");
+        abort();
+    }
+
+    g_setenv("LIBVIRT_FAKE_ROOT_DIR", fakerootdir, TRUE);
+
     /* Required for tpm-emulator tests
      */
     virFileWrapperAddPrefix(SYSCONFDIR "/qemu/firmware",
@@ -1466,8 +1478,12 @@ mymain(void)
 
     DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST("virtio-9p-multidevs");
 
+    if (getenv("LIBVIRT_SKIP_CLEANUP") == NULL)
+        virFileDeleteTree(fakerootdir);
+
     virHashFree(capslatest);
     qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
+    VIR_FREE(fakerootdir);
     virFileWrapperClearPrefixes();
 
     return ret == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.c b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
index c7983f0014..9f9eb4033c 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.c
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
@@ -307,10 +307,11 @@ qemuTestParseCapabilitiesArch(virArch arch,
 
 void qemuTestDriverFree(virQEMUDriver *driver)
 {
-    if (g_getenv("LIBVIRT_SKIP_CLEANUP") == NULL)
-        virFileDeleteTree(driver->embeddedRoot);
-
     virMutexDestroy(&driver->lock);
+    if (driver->config) {
+        virFileDeleteTree(driver->config->stateDir);
+        virFileDeleteTree(driver->config->configDir);
+    }
     virObjectUnref(driver->qemuCapsCache);
     virObjectUnref(driver->xmlopt);
     virObjectUnref(driver->caps);
@@ -369,21 +370,14 @@ int qemuTestCapsCacheInsert(virFileCachePtr cache,
 }
 
 
-# define FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/fakerootdir-XXXXXX"
+# define STATEDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/qemustatedir-XXXXXX"
+# define CONFIGDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/qemuconfigdir-XXXXXX"
 
 int qemuTestDriverInit(virQEMUDriver *driver)
 {
     virSecurityManagerPtr mgr = NULL;
-    g_autofree char *fakerootdir = NULL;
-
-    fakerootdir = g_strdup(FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE);
-
-    if (!g_mkdtemp(fakerootdir)) {
-        fprintf(stderr, "Cannot create fakerootdir");
-        abort();
-    }
-
-    g_setenv("LIBVIRT_FAKE_ROOT_DIR", fakerootdir, TRUE);
+    char statedir[] = STATEDIRTEMPLATE;
+    char configdir[] = CONFIGDIRTEMPLATE;
 
     memset(driver, 0, sizeof(*driver));
 
@@ -397,16 +391,35 @@ int qemuTestDriverInit(virQEMUDriver *driver)
         return -1;
 
     driver->hostarch = virArchFromHost();
-    driver->config = virQEMUDriverConfigNew(false, fakerootdir);
+    driver->config = virQEMUDriverConfigNew(false, NULL);
     if (!driver->config)
         goto error;
 
+    /* Do this early so that qemuTestDriverFree() doesn't see (unlink) the real
+     * dirs. */
+    VIR_FREE(driver->config->stateDir);
+    VIR_FREE(driver->config->configDir);
+
     /* Overwrite some default paths so it's consistent for tests. */
     VIR_FREE(driver->config->libDir);
     VIR_FREE(driver->config->channelTargetDir);
     driver->config->libDir = g_strdup("/tmp/lib");
     driver->config->channelTargetDir = g_strdup("/tmp/channel");
 
+    if (!g_mkdtemp(statedir)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Cannot create fake stateDir");
+        goto error;
+    }
+
+    driver->config->stateDir = g_strdup(statedir);
+
+    if (!g_mkdtemp(configdir)) {
+        fprintf(stderr, "Cannot create fake configDir");
+        goto error;
+    }
+
+    driver->config->configDir = g_strdup(configdir);
+
     driver->caps = testQemuCapsInit();
     if (!driver->caps)
         goto error;