diff --git a/tests/qemumemlocktest.c b/tests/qemumemlocktest.c
index a03ed20a45..2f4fe786f5 100644
--- a/tests/qemumemlocktest.c
+++ b/tests/qemumemlocktest.c
@@ -51,8 +51,6 @@ mymain(void)
     if (qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
-    driver.privileged = true;
-
 # define DO_TEST(name, memlock) \
     do { \
         static struct testInfo info = { \
diff --git a/tests/qemumigrationcookiexmltest.c b/tests/qemumigrationcookiexmltest.c
index 0e5f956a2a..2f0d84148b 100644
--- a/tests/qemumigrationcookiexmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemumigrationcookiexmltest.c
@@ -413,8 +413,6 @@ mymain(void)
     if (qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
-    driver.privileged = true;
-
     if (!(conn = virGetConnect()))
         goto cleanup;
 
diff --git a/tests/qemustatusxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemustatusxml2xmltest.c
index 7587c4c34f..408955a8f5 100644
--- a/tests/qemustatusxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemustatusxml2xmltest.c
@@ -87,8 +87,6 @@ mymain(void)
     if (qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
-    driver.privileged = true;
-
     if (!(conn = virGetConnect()))
         goto cleanup;
 
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index c41c890fc9..289fcf8014 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -830,8 +830,6 @@ mymain(void)
     linuxCaps = driver.caps;
     macOSCaps = testQemuCapsInitMacOS();
 
-    driver.privileged = true;
-
     VIR_FREE(driver.config->defaultTLSx509certdir);
     driver.config->defaultTLSx509certdir = g_strdup("/etc/pki/qemu");
     VIR_FREE(driver.config->vncTLSx509certdir);
diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
index ef6c829afe..847ebe85c6 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -148,7 +148,6 @@ mymain(void)
     macOSCaps = testQemuCapsInitMacOS();
 
     cfg = virQEMUDriverGetConfig(&driver);
-    driver.privileged = true;
 
     VIR_FREE(cfg->nvramDir);
     cfg->nvramDir = g_strdup("/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/nvram");
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.c b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
index e47e93e8a6..9983130399 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.c
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
@@ -683,6 +683,8 @@ int qemuTestDriverInit(virQEMUDriver *driver)
 
     qemuTestSetHostCPU(driver, driver->hostarch, NULL);
 
+    driver->privileged = true;
+
     return 0;
 
  error: