diff --git a/test/src/main/java/org/jvnet/hudson/test/HudsonTestCase.java b/test/src/main/java/org/jvnet/hudson/test/HudsonTestCase.java
index 90353263706bbb63c92f4a287cf07f02149c655d..fbddfa8d6c72abf2281876345f359b7999352975 100644
--- a/test/src/main/java/org/jvnet/hudson/test/HudsonTestCase.java
+++ b/test/src/main/java/org/jvnet/hudson/test/HudsonTestCase.java
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ import hudson.*;
 import hudson.Util;
 import hudson.model.*;
 import hudson.model.Queue.Executable;
+import hudson.security.ACL;
 import hudson.security.AbstractPasswordBasedSecurityRealm;
 import hudson.security.GroupDetails;
 import hudson.security.SecurityRealm;
@@ -100,6 +101,7 @@ import net.sourceforge.htmlunit.corejs.javascript.ContextFactory.Listener;
 import org.acegisecurity.AuthenticationException;
 import org.acegisecurity.BadCredentialsException;
 import org.acegisecurity.GrantedAuthority;
+import org.acegisecurity.context.SecurityContextHolder;
 import org.acegisecurity.userdetails.UserDetails;
 import org.acegisecurity.userdetails.UsernameNotFoundException;
 import org.apache.commons.httpclient.NameValuePair;
@@ -316,6 +318,8 @@ public abstract class HudsonTestCase extends TestCase implements RootAction {
     @Override
     protected void runTest() throws Throwable {
         System.out.println("=== Starting "+ getClass().getSimpleName() + "." + getName());
+        // so that test code has all the access to the system
+        SecurityContextHolder.getContext().setAuthentication(ACL.SYSTEM);
         super.runTest();
     }
 
diff --git a/test/src/test/java/hudson/model/QueueTest.java b/test/src/test/java/hudson/model/QueueTest.java
index 9f79987e16e404867e26d1482da64aa8bcc40b50..b7deff28346aec1298b28e6b387d599900e4c731 100644
--- a/test/src/test/java/hudson/model/QueueTest.java
+++ b/test/src/test/java/hudson/model/QueueTest.java
@@ -206,8 +206,8 @@ public class QueueTest extends HudsonTestCase {
         StringBuilder causes = new StringBuilder();
         for (Cause c : ca.getCauses()) causes.append(c.getShortDescription() + "\n");
         assertEquals("Build causes should have all items, even duplicates",
-                "Started by user anonymous\nStarted by an SCM change\n"
-                + "Started by user anonymous\nStarted by timer\n"
+                "Started by user SYSTEM\nStarted by an SCM change\n"
+                + "Started by user SYSTEM\nStarted by timer\n"
                 + "Started by remote host 1.2.3.4 with note: test\n"
                 + "Started by remote host 4.3.2.1 with note: test\n"
                 + "Started by an SCM change\n"
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ public class QueueTest extends HudsonTestCase {
         WebClient wc = new WebClient();
         String buildPage = wc.getPage(build, "").asText().replace('\n',' ');
         assertTrue("Build page should combine duplicates and show counts: " + buildPage,
-                   buildPage.contains("Started by user anonymous (2 times) "
+                   buildPage.contains("Started by user SYSTEM (2 times) "
                         + "Started by an SCM change (3 times) "
                         + "Started by timer (2 times) "
                         + "Started by remote host 1.2.3.4 with note: test (2 times) "