diff --git a/tests/uitests/addhardware.py b/tests/uitests/addhardware.py
index 74b271487..202626f31 100644
--- a/tests/uitests/addhardware.py
+++ b/tests/uitests/addhardware.py
@@ -144,15 +144,12 @@ class AddHardware(uiutils.UITestCase):
         uiutils.check_in_loop(lambda: not addhw.showing)
         uiutils.check_in_loop(lambda: details.active)
 
+    @tests.utils.run_without_testsuite_hacks
     def testQemuSearchCheck(self):
-        os.environ.pop("VIRTINST_TEST_SUITE")
-        try:
-            with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
-                with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(dir=tmpdir) as tmpfile:
-                    os.chmod(tmpdir, 0o700)
-                    self._testQemuSearchCheck(tmpfile.name)
-        finally:
-            os.environ["VIRTINST_TEST_SUITE"] = "1"
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
+            with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(dir=tmpdir) as tmpfile:
+                os.chmod(tmpdir, 0o700)
+                self._testQemuSearchCheck(tmpfile.name)
 
     def testAddDisks(self):
         """
diff --git a/tests/utils.py b/tests/utils.py
index d3bf9dae5..c52f711ed 100644
--- a/tests/utils.py
+++ b/tests/utils.py
@@ -225,3 +225,17 @@ def diff_compare(actual_out, filename=None, expect_out=None):
                                         tofile="Generated Output"))
     if diff:
         raise AssertionError("Conversion outputs did not match.\n%s" % diff)
+
+
+def run_without_testsuite_hacks(cb):
+    """
+    Decorator for unsetting the test suite env variable
+    """
+    def wrapper_cb(*args, **kwargs):
+        origval = os.environ.pop("VIRTINST_TEST_SUITE", None)
+        try:
+            return cb(*args, **kwargs)
+        finally:
+            if origval:
+                os.environ["VIRTINST_TEST_SUITE"] = origval
+    return wrapper_cb
diff --git a/tests/xmlconfig.py b/tests/xmlconfig.py
index e4984be51..dab83a586 100644
--- a/tests/xmlconfig.py
+++ b/tests/xmlconfig.py
@@ -193,28 +193,24 @@ class TestXMLMisc(unittest.TestCase):
         g._metadata.libosinfo.os_id = "http://example.com/idontexit"  # pylint: disable=protected-access
         self.assertEqual(g.osinfo.name, "generic")
 
+    @utils.run_without_testsuite_hacks
     def test_dir_searchable(self):
         # Normally the dir searchable test is skipped in the unittest,
         # but let's contrive an example that should trigger all the code
         # to ensure it isn't horribly broken
         from virtinst import diskbackend
-        oldtest = os.environ.pop("VIRTINST_TEST_SUITE")
-        try:
-            uid = -1
-            username = "fakeuser-zzzz"
-            with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
-                fixlist = diskbackend.is_path_searchable(tmpdir, uid, username)
-                self.assertTrue(bool(fixlist))
-                errdict = diskbackend.set_dirs_searchable(fixlist, username)
-                self.assertTrue(not bool(errdict))
+        uid = -1
+        username = "fakeuser-zzzz"
+        with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmpdir:
+            fixlist = diskbackend.is_path_searchable(tmpdir, uid, username)
+            self.assertTrue(bool(fixlist))
+            errdict = diskbackend.set_dirs_searchable(fixlist, username)
+            self.assertTrue(not bool(errdict))
 
-
-            import getpass
-            fixlist = diskbackend.is_path_searchable(
-                    os.getcwd(), os.getuid(), getpass.getuser())
-            self.assertTrue(not bool(fixlist))
-        finally:
-            os.environ["VIRTINST_TEST_SUITE"] = oldtest
+        import getpass
+        fixlist = diskbackend.is_path_searchable(
+                os.getcwd(), os.getuid(), getpass.getuser())
+        self.assertTrue(not bool(fixlist))
 
     def test_nonpredicatble_generate(self):
         realconn = virtinst.cli.getConnection("test:///default")