diff --git a/test/test_format_installer.sh b/test/test_format_installer.sh
index 23183d91..2b94d3d9 100644
--- a/test/test_format_installer.sh
+++ b/test/test_format_installer.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ mkdir -p "${CONFIG_DIR}"
 rm -rf "${CONFIG_DIR}/.lnav/formats"
 
 HOME=${CONFIG_DIR}
+unset XDG_CONFIG_HOME
 export HOME
 
 ${lnav_test} -i ${srcdir}/formats/jsontest/format.json
diff --git a/test/test_remote.sh b/test/test_remote.sh
index 2285aa9d..059616be 100644
--- a/test/test_remote.sh
+++ b/test/test_remote.sh
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ Hello, World!
 EOF
 
 export HOME=${PWD}/remote
+unset XDG_CONFIG_HOME
 
 rm -rf remote-tmp
 mkdir -p remote-tmp
diff --git a/test/test_sessions.sh b/test/test_sessions.sh
index 4d239615..0f5ac056 100644
--- a/test/test_sessions.sh
+++ b/test/test_sessions.sh
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 lnav_test="${top_builddir}/src/lnav-test"
 
 export HOME="./sessions"
+unset XDG_CONFIG_HOME
 rm -rf "./sessions"
 mkdir -p $HOME