diff --git a/tests/libqtest.c b/tests/libqtest.c
index ed55686ce0..5e458e884e 100644
--- a/tests/libqtest.c
+++ b/tests/libqtest.c
@@ -165,6 +165,7 @@ QTestState *qtest_init(const char *extra_args)
 
     s->qemu_pid = fork();
     if (s->qemu_pid == 0) {
+        setenv("QEMU_AUDIO_DRV", "none", true);
         command = g_strdup_printf("exec %s "
                                   "-qtest unix:%s,nowait "
                                   "-qtest-log %s "