diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c b/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
index 429928aa7f..2e8ac05e5e 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
@@ -664,13 +664,8 @@ mymain(void)
     int ret = 0;
     struct qemuHotplugTestData data = {0};
     struct testQemuHotplugCpuParams cpudata;
-    g_autofree char *fakerootdir = NULL;
     g_autoptr(virQEMUDriverConfig) cfg = NULL;
 
-    if (!(fakerootdir = virTestFakeRootDirInit())) {
-        return EXIT_FAILURE;
-    }
-
     if (qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
@@ -997,8 +992,6 @@ 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);
 
-    virTestFakeRootDirCleanup(fakerootdir);
-
     qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
     virObjectUnref(data.vm);
     return (ret == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
diff --git a/tests/qemumemlocktest.c b/tests/qemumemlocktest.c
index 184d8ede19..a03ed20a45 100644
--- a/tests/qemumemlocktest.c
+++ b/tests/qemumemlocktest.c
@@ -46,12 +46,8 @@ static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
-    g_autofree char *fakerootdir = NULL;
     g_autoptr(virQEMUCaps) qemuCaps = NULL;
 
-    if (!(fakerootdir = virTestFakeRootDirInit()))
-        return EXIT_FAILURE;
-
     if (qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
@@ -129,8 +125,6 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST("pseries-locked+hostdev", VIR_DOMAIN_MEMORY_PARAM_UNLIMITED);
 
  cleanup:
-    virTestFakeRootDirCleanup(fakerootdir);
-
     qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
 
     return ret == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
diff --git a/tests/qemustatusxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemustatusxml2xmltest.c
index a29aa723e6..7587c4c34f 100644
--- a/tests/qemustatusxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemustatusxml2xmltest.c
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@ static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
-    g_autofree char *fakerootdir = NULL;
     g_autoptr(GHashTable) capslatest = testQemuGetLatestCaps();
     g_autoptr(GHashTable) capscache = virHashNew(virObjectUnref);
     g_autoptr(virConnect) conn = NULL;
@@ -85,9 +84,6 @@ mymain(void)
     if (!capslatest)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
-    if (!(fakerootdir = virTestFakeRootDirInit()))
-        return EXIT_FAILURE;
-
     if (qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
@@ -134,8 +130,6 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST_STATUS("backup-pull");
 
  cleanup:
-    virTestFakeRootDirCleanup(fakerootdir);
-
     qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
 
     return ret == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 3f5eda533e..f46fc29f32 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -800,7 +800,6 @@ static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
-    g_autofree char *fakerootdir = NULL;
     g_autoptr(GHashTable) capslatest = testQemuGetLatestCaps();
     g_autoptr(GHashTable) qapiSchemaCache = virHashNew((GDestroyNotify) g_hash_table_unref);
     g_autoptr(GHashTable) capscache = virHashNew(virObjectUnref);
@@ -811,9 +810,6 @@ mymain(void)
     if (!capslatest)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
-    if (!(fakerootdir = virTestFakeRootDirInit()))
-        return EXIT_FAILURE;
-
     /* 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
@@ -2987,8 +2983,6 @@ mymain(void)
 
     DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST("crypto-builtin");
 
-    virTestFakeRootDirCleanup(fakerootdir);
-
     VIR_FREE(driver.config->nbdTLSx509certdir);
     qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
     virFileWrapperClearPrefixes();
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
index 2b6006fcc7..69bff80376 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -117,7 +117,6 @@ static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
-    g_autofree char *fakerootdir = NULL;
     g_autoptr(virQEMUDriverConfig) cfg = NULL;
     g_autoptr(GHashTable) capslatest = testQemuGetLatestCaps();
     g_autoptr(GHashTable) capscache = virHashNew(virObjectUnref);
@@ -129,9 +128,6 @@ mymain(void)
     if (!capslatest)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
-    if (!(fakerootdir = virTestFakeRootDirInit()))
-        return EXIT_FAILURE;
-
     /* Required for tpm-emulator tests
      */
     virFileWrapperAddPrefix(SYSCONFDIR "/qemu/firmware",
@@ -1325,8 +1321,6 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST_CAPS_LATEST("crypto-builtin");
 
  cleanup:
-    virTestFakeRootDirCleanup(fakerootdir);
-
     qemuTestDriverFree(&driver);
     virFileWrapperClearPrefixes();
 
diff --git a/tests/scsihosttest.c b/tests/scsihosttest.c
index 37d2b86c0a..7f2dcb68a2 100644
--- a/tests/scsihosttest.c
+++ b/tests/scsihosttest.c
@@ -231,10 +231,10 @@ static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = -1;
-    g_autofree char *fakerootdir = NULL;
+    const char *fakerootdir = NULL;
     g_autofree char *fakesysfsdir = NULL;
 
-    if (!(fakerootdir = virTestFakeRootDirInit()))
+    if (!(fakerootdir = g_getenv("LIBVIRT_FAKE_ROOT_DIR")))
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
     fakesysfsdir = g_strdup_printf("%s/sys", fakerootdir);
@@ -262,7 +262,6 @@ mymain(void)
     ret = 0;
 
  cleanup:
-    virTestFakeRootDirCleanup(fakerootdir);
     VIR_FREE(scsihost_class_path);
     return ret == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
diff --git a/tests/testutils.c b/tests/testutils.c
index fe7677ebfb..e717895fbf 100644
--- a/tests/testutils.c
+++ b/tests/testutils.c
@@ -808,6 +808,7 @@ int virTestMain(int argc,
     g_autofree const char **preloads = NULL;
     size_t npreloads = 0;
     g_autofree char *mock = NULL;
+    g_autofree char *fakerootdir = NULL;
 
     if (getenv("VIR_TEST_FILE_ACCESS")) {
         preloads = g_renew(const char *, preloads, npreloads + 2);
@@ -888,6 +889,9 @@ int virTestMain(int argc,
 
     failedTests = virBitmapNew(1);
 
+    if (!(fakerootdir = virTestFakeRootDirInit()))
+        return EXIT_FAILURE;
+
     ret = (func)();
 
     virResetLastError();
@@ -897,6 +901,8 @@ int virTestMain(int argc,
         fprintf(stderr, " %-3zu %s\n", testCounter, ret == 0 ? "OK" : "FAIL");
     }
 
+    virTestFakeRootDirCleanup(fakerootdir);
+
     switch (ret) {
     case EXIT_FAILURE:
     case EXIT_SUCCESS:
diff --git a/tests/virhostdevtest.c b/tests/virhostdevtest.c
index c64940458f..ee0d1c1e6b 100644
--- a/tests/virhostdevtest.c
+++ b/tests/virhostdevtest.c
@@ -588,10 +588,6 @@ static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
-    g_autofree char *fakerootdir = NULL;
-
-    if (!(fakerootdir = virTestFakeRootDirInit()))
-        return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
 # define DO_TEST(fnc) \
     do { \
@@ -601,7 +597,6 @@ mymain(void)
 
     if (myInit() < 0) {
         fprintf(stderr, "Init data structures failed.");
-        virTestFakeRootDirCleanup(fakerootdir);
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
     }
 
@@ -614,8 +609,6 @@ mymain(void)
 
     myCleanup();
 
-    virTestFakeRootDirCleanup(fakerootdir);
-
     return ret == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/virpcitest.c b/tests/virpcitest.c
index 5ddf4de0bd..769175d7c4 100644
--- a/tests/virpcitest.c
+++ b/tests/virpcitest.c
@@ -367,10 +367,6 @@ static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
-    g_autofree char *fakerootdir = NULL;
-
-    if (!(fakerootdir = virTestFakeRootDirInit()))
-        return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
 # define DO_TEST(fnc) \
     do { \
@@ -438,8 +434,6 @@ mymain(void)
 
     DO_TEST_PCI(testVirPCIDeviceGetVPD, 0, 0x03, 0, 0);
 
-    virTestFakeRootDirCleanup(fakerootdir);
-
     return ret == 0 ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }