diff --git a/tests/securityselinuxlabeltest.c b/tests/securityselinuxlabeltest.c
index 04bffe4356..7b7cf53569 100644
--- a/tests/securityselinuxlabeltest.c
+++ b/tests/securityselinuxlabeltest.c
@@ -347,4 +347,4 @@ mymain(void)
 
 VIR_TEST_MAIN_PRELOAD(mymain,
                       VIR_TEST_MOCK("domaincaps"),
-                      abs_builddir "/libsecurityselinuxhelper.so")
+                      "libsecurityselinuxhelper.so")
diff --git a/tests/securityselinuxtest.c b/tests/securityselinuxtest.c
index 6a0f1617ae..6aadc6154f 100644
--- a/tests/securityselinuxtest.c
+++ b/tests/securityselinuxtest.c
@@ -332,4 +332,4 @@ mymain(void)
     return (ret == 0) ? EXIT_SUCCESS : EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
 
-VIR_TEST_MAIN_PRELOAD(mymain, abs_builddir "/libsecurityselinuxhelper.so")
+VIR_TEST_MAIN_PRELOAD(mymain, "libsecurityselinuxhelper.so")
diff --git a/tests/testutils.c b/tests/testutils.c
index 8d4e7f84bf..3c5c298293 100644
--- a/tests/testutils.c
+++ b/tests/testutils.c
@@ -837,8 +837,10 @@ int virTestMain(int argc,
 
     va_start(ap, func);
     while ((lib = va_arg(ap, const char *))) {
-        if (!virFileIsExecutable(lib)) {
-            perror(lib);
+        g_autofree char *abs_lib_path = g_strdup_printf("%s/%s", abs_builddir, lib);
+
+        if (!virFileIsExecutable(abs_lib_path)) {
+            perror(abs_lib_path);
             va_end(ap);
             return EXIT_FAILURE;
         }
diff --git a/tests/testutils.h b/tests/testutils.h
index bb84327b1e..e5469c5aa0 100644
--- a/tests/testutils.h
+++ b/tests/testutils.h
@@ -123,11 +123,13 @@ int virTestMain(int argc,
 
 #ifdef __APPLE__
 # define PRELOAD_VAR "DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES"
+# define LD_LIBRARY_PATH "DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH"
 # define FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE \
             g_setenv("DYLD_FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE", "1", TRUE);
 # define MOCK_EXT ".dylib"
 #else
 # define PRELOAD_VAR "LD_PRELOAD"
+# define LD_LIBRARY_PATH "LD_LIBRARY_PATH"
 # define FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE
 # define MOCK_EXT ".so"
 #endif
@@ -137,12 +139,20 @@ int virTestMain(int argc,
         const char *preload = getenv(PRELOAD_VAR); \
         if (preload == NULL || strstr(preload, libs) == NULL) { \
             char *newenv; \
+            char *new_library_path; \
+            const char *cur_library_path = g_getenv(LD_LIBRARY_PATH); \
             if (!preload) { \
                 newenv = (char *) libs; \
             } else { \
                 newenv = g_strdup_printf("%s:%s", libs, preload); \
             } \
+            if (!cur_library_path) { \
+                new_library_path = (char *) abs_builddir; \
+            } else { \
+                new_library_path = g_strdup_printf("%s:%s", abs_builddir, cur_library_path); \
+            } \
             g_setenv(PRELOAD_VAR, newenv, TRUE); \
+            g_setenv(LD_LIBRARY_PATH, new_library_path, TRUE); \
             FORCE_FLAT_NAMESPACE \
             execv(argv[0], argv); \
         } \
@@ -153,7 +163,7 @@ int virTestMain(int argc,
         return virTestMain(argc, argv, func, __VA_ARGS__, NULL); \
     }
 
-#define VIR_TEST_MOCK(mock) (abs_builddir "/lib" mock "mock" MOCK_EXT)
+#define VIR_TEST_MOCK(mock) ("lib" mock "mock" MOCK_EXT)
 
 virCaps *virTestGenericCapsInit(void);
 virCapsHostNUMA *virTestCapsBuildNUMATopology(int seq);
diff --git a/tests/viridentitytest.c b/tests/viridentitytest.c
index 73ed9f73df..74e3a03619 100644
--- a/tests/viridentitytest.c
+++ b/tests/viridentitytest.c
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ mymain(void)
 }
 
 #if WITH_SELINUX
-VIR_TEST_MAIN_PRELOAD(mymain, abs_builddir "/libsecurityselinuxhelper.so")
+VIR_TEST_MAIN_PRELOAD(mymain, "libsecurityselinuxhelper.so")
 #else
 VIR_TEST_MAIN(mymain)
 #endif