diff --git a/src/core/core-varlink.c b/src/core/core-varlink.c
index 985bd702b82..c5735d0eaa1 100644
--- a/src/core/core-varlink.c
+++ b/src/core/core-varlink.c
@@ -161,6 +161,9 @@ static int manager_varlink_send_managed_oom_initial(Manager *m) {
         if (!MANAGER_IS_USER(m))
                 return 0;
 
+        if (MANAGER_IS_TEST_RUN(m))
+                return 0;
+
         assert(m->managed_oom_varlink);
 
         r = build_managed_oom_cgroups_json(m, &v);
@@ -207,6 +210,9 @@ static int manager_varlink_managed_oom_connect(Manager *m) {
         if (!MANAGER_IS_USER(m))
                 return -EINVAL;
 
+        if (MANAGER_IS_TEST_RUN(m))
+                return 0;
+
         r = sd_varlink_connect_address(&link, VARLINK_ADDR_PATH_MANAGED_OOM_USER);
         if (r == -ENOENT)
                 return 0;
@@ -246,6 +252,9 @@ int manager_varlink_send_managed_oom_update(Unit *u) {
         if (!UNIT_VTABLE(u)->can_set_managed_oom || !u->manager)
                 return 0;
 
+        if (MANAGER_IS_TEST_RUN(u->manager))
+                return 0;
+
         crt = unit_get_cgroup_runtime(u);
         if (!crt || !crt->cgroup_path)
                 return 0;
@@ -633,7 +642,7 @@ static int manager_varlink_init_system(Manager *m) {
         bool fresh = r > 0;
 
         if (!MANAGER_IS_TEST_RUN(m)) {
-                (void) mkdir_p_label("/run/systemd/userdb", 0755);
+                (void) mkdir_label("/run/systemd/userdb", 0755);
 
                 FOREACH_STRING(address, "/run/systemd/userdb/io.systemd.DynamicUser", VARLINK_ADDR_PATH_MANAGED_OOM_SYSTEM) {
                         if (!fresh) {
diff --git a/src/core/dbus.c b/src/core/dbus.c
index a2a2611a03e..240b74ec410 100644
--- a/src/core/dbus.c
+++ b/src/core/dbus.c
@@ -34,7 +34,6 @@
 #include "fd-util.h"
 #include "fs-util.h"
 #include "log.h"
-#include "mkdir-label.h"
 #include "process-util.h"
 #include "selinux-access.h"
 #include "serialize.h"
@@ -978,7 +977,6 @@ int bus_init_private(Manager *m) {
                 return log_error_errno(r, "Failed set socket path for private bus: %m");
         sa_len = r;
 
-        (void) mkdir_parents_label(sa.un.sun_path, 0755);
         (void) sockaddr_un_unlink(&sa.un);
 
         fd = socket(AF_UNIX, SOCK_STREAM|SOCK_CLOEXEC|SOCK_NONBLOCK, 0);
diff --git a/src/core/exec-credential.c b/src/core/exec-credential.c
index 58d722ab857..95ff1e45bb3 100644
--- a/src/core/exec-credential.c
+++ b/src/core/exec-credential.c
@@ -932,7 +932,7 @@ static int setup_credentials_internal(
 
         r = path_is_mount_point(final);
         if (r < 0)
-                return r;
+                return log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to determine if '%s' is a mountpoint: %m", final);
         final_mounted = r > 0;
 
         if (final_mounted) {
@@ -1125,7 +1125,7 @@ int exec_setup_credentials(
                 FOREACH_STRING(i, t, u) {
                         r = mkdir_label(i, 0700);
                         if (r < 0 && r != -EEXIST)
-                                return r;
+                                return log_debug_errno(r, "Failed to make directory '%s': %m", i);
                 }
 
                 r = setup_credentials_internal(
diff --git a/src/core/manager.c b/src/core/manager.c
index 6a4fd3e991a..2382592d4ef 100644
--- a/src/core/manager.c
+++ b/src/core/manager.c
@@ -336,7 +336,7 @@ static int manager_check_ask_password(Manager *m) {
                 if (inotify_fd < 0)
                         return log_error_errno(errno, "Failed to create inotify object: %m");
 
-                (void) mkdir_p_label("/run/systemd/ask-password", 0755);
+                (void) mkdir_label("/run/systemd/ask-password", 0755);
                 r = inotify_add_watch_and_warn(inotify_fd, "/run/systemd/ask-password", IN_CLOSE_WRITE|IN_DELETE|IN_MOVED_TO|IN_ONLYDIR);
                 if (r < 0)
                         return r;
@@ -1047,7 +1047,7 @@ int manager_new(RuntimeScope runtime_scope, ManagerTestRunFlags test_run_flags,
                         if (r < 0)
                                 return r;
 
-                        r = mkdir_p_label(units_path, 0755);
+                        r = mkdir_label(units_path, 0755);
                 }
                 if (r < 0 && r != -EEXIST)
                         return r;
@@ -1105,7 +1105,6 @@ static int manager_setup_notify(Manager *m) {
                                                m->notify_socket);
                 sa_len = r;
 
-                (void) mkdir_parents_label(m->notify_socket, 0755);
                 (void) sockaddr_un_unlink(&sa.un);
 
                 r = mac_selinux_bind(fd, &sa.sa, sa_len);
@@ -1969,6 +1968,9 @@ static bool manager_dbus_is_running(Manager *m, bool deserialized) {
 static void manager_setup_bus(Manager *m) {
         assert(m);
 
+        if (MANAGER_IS_TEST_RUN(m))
+                return;
+
         /* Let's set up our private bus connection now, unconditionally */
         (void) bus_init_private(m);
 
@@ -2045,11 +2047,31 @@ void manager_reloading_stopp(Manager **m) {
         }
 }
 
+static int manager_make_runtime_dir(Manager *m) {
+        int r;
+
+        assert(m);
+
+        _cleanup_free_ char *d = path_join(m->prefix[EXEC_DIRECTORY_RUNTIME], "systemd");
+        if (!d)
+                return log_oom();
+
+        r = mkdir_label(d, 0755);
+        if (r < 0 && r != -EEXIST)
+                return log_error_errno(r, "Failed to create directory '%s/': %m", d);
+
+        return 0;
+}
+
 int manager_startup(Manager *m, FILE *serialization, FDSet *fds, const char *root) {
         int r;
 
         assert(m);
 
+        r = manager_make_runtime_dir(m);
+        if (r < 0)
+                return r;
+
         /* If we are running in test mode, we still want to run the generators,
          * but we should not touch the real generator directories. */
         r = lookup_paths_init_or_warn(&m->lookup_paths, m->runtime_scope,
diff --git a/src/test/test-execute.c b/src/test/test-execute.c
index c5d0707e136..5b89a450b5f 100644
--- a/src/test/test-execute.c
+++ b/src/test/test-execute.c
@@ -1420,9 +1420,10 @@ static void run_tests(RuntimeScope scope, char **patterns) {
         start = now(CLOCK_MONOTONIC);
 
         for (const test_entry *test = tests; test->f; test++)
-                if (strv_fnmatch_or_empty(patterns, test->name, FNM_NOESCAPE))
+                if (strv_fnmatch_or_empty(patterns, test->name, FNM_NOESCAPE)) {
+                        log_info("Starting %s.", test->name);
                         test->f(m);
-                else
+                } else
                         log_info("Skipping %s because it does not match any pattern.", test->name);
 
         finish = now(CLOCK_MONOTONIC);