diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7.test/pom.xml b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7.test/pom.xml
index 6c0dd33bc..3641f59ae 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7.test/pom.xml
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7.test/pom.xml
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@
       <plugin>
         <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
         <configuration>
-          <argLine>-Xmx256m -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8</argLine>
+          <argLine>-Xmx256m -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -Djava.io.tmpdir=${project.build.directory}</argLine>
         </configuration>
       </plugin>
     </plugins>
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7.test/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FSJava7Test.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7.test/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FSJava7Test.java
index d735bd3ce..4b5fe5979 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.java7.test/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FSJava7Test.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.java7.test/src/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FSJava7Test.java
@@ -58,13 +58,13 @@ import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 public class FSJava7Test {
-
-	private final File trash = new File(new File("target"), "trash");
+	private File trash;
 
 	@Before
 	public void setUp() throws Exception {
-		FileUtils.delete(trash, FileUtils.RECURSIVE | FileUtils.RETRY | FileUtils.SKIP_MISSING);
-		assertTrue(trash.mkdirs());
+		trash = File.createTempFile("tmp_", "");
+		trash.delete();
+		assertTrue("mkdir " + trash, trash.mkdir());
 	}
 
 	@After
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/FileSnapshotTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/FileSnapshotTest.java
index 17c44dce8..902416bdf 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/FileSnapshotTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/internal/storage/file/FileSnapshotTest.java
@@ -61,7 +61,14 @@ public class FileSnapshotTest {
 
 	private List<File> files = new ArrayList<File>();
 
-	private final File trash = new File(new File("target"), "trash");
+	private File trash;
+
+	@Before
+	public void setUp() throws Exception {
+		trash = File.createTempFile("tmp_", "");
+		trash.delete();
+		assertTrue("mkdir " + trash, trash.mkdir());
+	}
 
 	@Before
 	@After
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/FileBasedConfigTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/FileBasedConfigTest.java
index 31938b98b..ee845c532 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/FileBasedConfigTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/storage/file/FileBasedConfigTest.java
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ package org.eclipse.jgit.storage.file;
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertArrayEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.File;
@@ -55,6 +56,7 @@ import org.eclipse.jgit.util.FS;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.FileUtils;
 import org.eclipse.jgit.util.IO;
 import org.junit.After;
+import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 public class FileBasedConfigTest {
@@ -73,7 +75,14 @@ public class FileBasedConfigTest {
 	private static final String CONTENT2 = "[" + USER + "]\n\t" + NAME + " = "
 			+ BOB + "\n";
 
-	private final File trash = new File(new File("target"), "trash");
+	private File trash;
+
+	@Before
+	public void setUp() throws Exception {
+		trash = File.createTempFile("tmp_", "");
+		trash.delete();
+		assertTrue("mkdir " + trash, trash.mkdir());
+	}
 
 	@After
 	public void tearDown() throws Exception {
diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtilTest.java b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtilTest.java
index df39f2b9d..7b1627854 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtilTest.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit.test/tst/org/eclipse/jgit/util/FileUtilTest.java
@@ -57,12 +57,13 @@ import org.junit.Before;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 public class FileUtilTest {
-
-	private final File trash = new File(new File("target"), "trash");
+	private File trash;
 
 	@Before
 	public void setUp() throws Exception {
-		assertTrue(trash.mkdirs());
+		trash = File.createTempFile("tmp_", "");
+		trash.delete();
+		assertTrue("mkdir " + trash, trash.mkdir());
 	}
 
 	@After