diff --git a/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c b/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
index cf87de187f152e4fab1c05f94068b2b2e0e1abaa..a67b6ce607997cd28175b65bf661462b6c57f103 100644
--- a/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuhotplugtest.c
@@ -594,8 +594,6 @@ testQemuHotplugCpuIndividual(const void *opaque)
     return ret;
 }
 
-#define FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/fakerootdir-XXXXXX"
-
 
 static int
 mymain(void)
@@ -604,18 +602,8 @@ 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;
 
@@ -891,9 +879,6 @@ 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);
 
-    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 3f18fed1c33d970a7bbcca7f08673d7e4afb103c..4813c7beb046524ae42141ff91419745dc47d3a0 100644
--- a/tests/qemumemlocktest.c
+++ b/tests/qemumemlocktest.c
@@ -51,28 +51,14 @@ testCompareMemLock(const void *data)
     return ret;
 }
 
-# define FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/fakerootdir-XXXXXX"
-
 static int
 mymain(void)
 {
     int ret = 0;
-    char *fakerootdir;
     virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps = 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) {
-        VIR_FREE(fakerootdir);
+    if (qemuTestDriverInit(&driver) < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
-    }
 
     driver.privileged = true;
 
@@ -150,11 +136,7 @@ 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 04febd1b0c70b17b62cd4a279ae8e06bdeacb14d..8bd6102d26ff5287038d88146b8237a86eee975b 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -609,24 +609,12 @@ 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
@@ -3232,12 +3220,8 @@ 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 86f3d2c1f3b1307986580d176e2e982e4109eb5d..6a0adab6035587ef26af0a1bd65d5b765e6a581d 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2xmltest.c
@@ -126,13 +126,10 @@ 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;
 
@@ -140,15 +137,6 @@ 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",
@@ -1478,12 +1466,8 @@ 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 9f9eb4033c410019798570387fa4e984ae875ef0..c7983f0014dd4ca0a8a9c605bf74d2f21ff352b0 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.c
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
@@ -307,11 +307,10 @@ 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);
@@ -370,14 +369,21 @@ int qemuTestCapsCacheInsert(virFileCachePtr cache,
 }
 
 
-# define STATEDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/qemustatedir-XXXXXX"
-# define CONFIGDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/qemuconfigdir-XXXXXX"
+# define FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE abs_builddir "/fakerootdir-XXXXXX"
 
 int qemuTestDriverInit(virQEMUDriver *driver)
 {
     virSecurityManagerPtr mgr = NULL;
-    char statedir[] = STATEDIRTEMPLATE;
-    char configdir[] = CONFIGDIRTEMPLATE;
+    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);
 
     memset(driver, 0, sizeof(*driver));
 
@@ -391,35 +397,16 @@ int qemuTestDriverInit(virQEMUDriver *driver)
         return -1;
 
     driver->hostarch = virArchFromHost();
-    driver->config = virQEMUDriverConfigNew(false, NULL);
+    driver->config = virQEMUDriverConfigNew(false, fakerootdir);
     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;