diff --git a/settings.py b/settings.py
index e6a7ee0f5484..4c9c1d1c3042 100644
--- a/settings.py
+++ b/settings.py
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 ]
 
 no_gui = False
+skip_autosave = False
 _world_settings_name_cache: Dict[str, str] = {}  # TODO: cache on disk and update when worlds change
 _world_settings_name_cache_updated = False
 _lock = Lock()
@@ -767,11 +768,17 @@ def __init__(self, location: Optional[str]):  # change to PathLike[str] once we
             self._filename = location
 
         def autosave() -> None:
-            if self._filename and self.changed:
+            if __debug__:
+                import __main__
+                main_file = getattr(__main__, "__file__", "")
+                assert "pytest" not in main_file and "unittest" not in main_file, \
+                       f"Auto-saving {self._filename} during unittests"
+            if self._filename and self.changed and not skip_autosave:
                 self.save()
 
-        import atexit
-        atexit.register(autosave)
+        if not skip_autosave:
+            import atexit
+            atexit.register(autosave)
 
     def save(self, location: Optional[str] = None) -> None:  # as above
         location = location or self._filename
diff --git a/test/__init__.py b/test/__init__.py
index 438a0a041e90..32622f65a927 100644
--- a/test/__init__.py
+++ b/test/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
 import warnings
-warnings.simplefilter("always")
 
+import settings
+
+warnings.simplefilter("always")
+settings.no_gui = True
+settings.skip_autosave = True
diff --git a/test/general/TestHostYAML.py b/test/general/TestHostYAML.py
index 81ae9f8a677c..f5fd406cac84 100644
--- a/test/general/TestHostYAML.py
+++ b/test/general/TestHostYAML.py
@@ -1,22 +1,27 @@
+import os
 import unittest
+from tempfile import TemporaryFile
 
+from settings import Settings
 import Utils
 
 
 class TestIDs(unittest.TestCase):
     @classmethod
     def setUpClass(cls) -> None:
-        with open(Utils.local_path("host.yaml")) as f:
+        with TemporaryFile("w+", encoding="utf-8") as f:
+            Settings(None).dump(f)
+            f.seek(0, os.SEEK_SET)
             cls.yaml_options = Utils.parse_yaml(f.read())
 
-    def testUtilsHasHost(self):
+    def test_utils_in_yaml(self) -> None:
         for option_key, option_set in Utils.get_default_options().items():
             with self.subTest(option_key):
                 self.assertIn(option_key, self.yaml_options)
                 for sub_option_key in option_set:
                     self.assertIn(sub_option_key, self.yaml_options[option_key])
 
-    def testHostHasUtils(self):
+    def test_yaml_in_utils(self) -> None:
         utils_options = Utils.get_default_options()
         for option_key, option_set in self.yaml_options.items():
             with self.subTest(option_key):