diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 52408ed307..74e313a810 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -7417,6 +7417,8 @@ LINKS="$LINKS pc-bios/s390-ccw/Makefile"
 LINKS="$LINKS roms/seabios/Makefile roms/vgabios/Makefile"
 LINKS="$LINKS pc-bios/qemu-icon.bmp"
 LINKS="$LINKS .gdbinit scripts" # scripts needed by relative path in .gdbinit
+LINKS="$LINKS tests/acceptance tests/data"
+LINKS="$LINKS tests/qemu-iotests/check"
 for bios_file in \
     $source_path/pc-bios/*.bin \
     $source_path/pc-bios/*.lid \
@@ -7453,25 +7455,13 @@ for rom in seabios vgabios ; do
     echo "RANLIB=$ranlib" >> $config_mak
 done
 
-# set up tests data directory
-for tests_subdir in acceptance data; do
-    if [ ! -e tests/$tests_subdir ]; then
-        symlink "$source_path/tests/$tests_subdir" tests/$tests_subdir
-    fi
-done
-
 # set up qemu-iotests in this build directory
 iotests_common_env="tests/qemu-iotests/common.env"
-iotests_check="tests/qemu-iotests/check"
 
 echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > "$iotests_common_env"
 echo >> "$iotests_common_env"
 echo "export PYTHON='$python'" >> "$iotests_common_env"
 
-if [ ! -e "$iotests_check" ]; then
-    symlink "$source_path/$iotests_check" "$iotests_check"
-fi
-
 # Save the configure command line for later reuse.
 cat <<EOD >config.status
 #!/bin/sh