diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 6ffa4a83cc..61279b05f3 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -5995,6 +5995,11 @@ for rom in seabios vgabios ; do
     echo "LD=$ld" >> $config_mak
 done
 
+# set up tests data directory
+if [ ! -e tests/data ]; then
+    symlink "$source_path/tests/data" tests/data
+fi
+
 # set up qemu-iotests in this build directory
 iotests_common_env="tests/qemu-iotests/common.env"
 iotests_check="tests/qemu-iotests/check"