diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/test/ci.py b/lib/spack/spack/test/ci.py
index fb21d90773d..46e40a9a774 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/test/ci.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/test/ci.py
@@ -421,6 +421,7 @@ def make_yaml_obj(use_artifact_buildcache, optimize, use_dependencies):
 def test_get_spec_filter_list(mutable_mock_env_path, config, mutable_mock_repo):
     """Test that given an active environment and list of touched pkgs,
     we get the right list of possibly-changed env specs"""
+    spack.config.set("config:environments_root", str(tmpdir.join("local_envs")))
     e1 = ev.create("test")
     e1.add("mpileaks")
     e1.add("hypre")