diff --git a/tests/checks/locale.fish b/tests/checks/locale.fish
index b0e7a73e8..55180b570 100644
--- a/tests/checks/locale.fish
+++ b/tests/checks/locale.fish
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#RUN: %fish %s
+#RUN: %fish -C "set fish %fish" %s
 # A function to display bytes, necessary because GNU and BSD implementations of `od` have different output.
 # We used to use xxd, but it's not available everywhere. See #3797.
 #
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ end
 # output should be "58c3bb58" for the first statement and "58c3bc58" for the
 # second.
 echo -n X\u00FBX | display_bytes
-echo X\u00FCX | env LC_ALL=C ../test/root/bin/fish -c 'read foo; echo -n $foo' | display_bytes
+echo X\u00FCX | env LC_ALL=C $fish -c 'read foo; echo -n $foo' | display_bytes
 #CHECK: 0000000 130 303 273 130
 #CHECK: 0000004
 #CHECK: 0000000 130 303 274 130
@@ -70,13 +70,13 @@ echo X\u00FCX | env LC_ALL=C ../test/root/bin/fish -c 'read foo; echo -n $foo' |
 # few single-byte unicode chars (that are not ASCII) are generally in the
 # ISO 8859-x char sets which are encompassed by the C locale. The output should
 # be "59fc59".
-env LC_ALL=C ../test/root/bin/fish -c 'echo -n Y\u00FCY' | display_bytes
+env LC_ALL=C $fish -c 'echo -n Y\u00FCY' | display_bytes
 #CHECK: 0000000 131 374 131
 #CHECK: 0000003
 
 # The user can specify a wide unicode character (one requiring more than a
 # single byte). In the C/POSIX locales we substitute a question-mark for the
 # unencodable wide char. The output should be "543f54".
-env LC_ALL=C ../test/root/bin/fish -c 'echo -n T\u01FDT' | display_bytes
+env LC_ALL=C $fish -c 'echo -n T\u01FDT' | display_bytes
 #CHECK: 0000000 124 077 124
 #CHECK: 0000003
diff --git a/tests/checks/read.fish b/tests/checks/read.fish
index c05d8770c..32aa9f91b 100644
--- a/tests/checks/read.fish
+++ b/tests/checks/read.fish
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# RUN: %fish %s
+# RUN: %fish -C "set fish %fish" %s
 # Set term again explicitly to ensure behavior.
 set -gx TERM xterm
 # Read with no vars is not an error
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ if test (string length "$x") -ne $fish_read_limit
 end
 
 # Confirm reading non-interactively works -- \#4206 regression
-echo abc\ndef | ../test/root/bin/fish -i -c 'read a; read b; set --show a; set --show b'
+echo abc\ndef | $fish -i -c 'read a; read b; set --show a; set --show b'
 #CHECK: $a: not set in local scope
 #CHECK: $a: set in global scope, unexported, with 1 elements
 #CHECK: $a[1]: length=3 value=|abc|