diff --git a/test/common.js b/test/common.js
index a4825daae7088c..fb81e9f0f01a68 100644
--- a/test/common.js
+++ b/test/common.js
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@ exports.testDir = path.dirname(__filename);
 exports.fixturesDir = path.join(exports.testDir, 'fixtures');
 exports.libDir = path.join(exports.testDir, '../lib');
 exports.tmpDir = path.join(exports.testDir, 'tmp');
+if (process.env.NODE_PIPE_DIR === undefined) {
+  exports.pipeTmpDir = exports.tmpDir;
+} else {
+  exports.pipeTmpDir = path.join(process.env.NODE_PIPE_DIR, 'NodePipeTmp');
+}
 exports.PORT = +process.env.NODE_COMMON_PORT || 12346;
 
 exports.opensslCli = path.join(path.dirname(process.execPath), 'openssl-cli');
@@ -35,7 +40,7 @@ if (process.platform === 'win32') {
   exports.PIPE = '\\\\.\\pipe\\libuv-test';
   exports.opensslCli += '.exe';
 } else {
-  exports.PIPE = exports.tmpDir + '/test.sock';
+  exports.PIPE = exports.pipeTmpDir + '/test.sock';
 }
 if (!fs.existsSync(exports.opensslCli))
   exports.opensslCli = false;
diff --git a/test/simple/test-cluster-eaccess.js b/test/simple/test-cluster-eaccess.js
index c87dfe83b3bd6b..fb3c24b2c96425 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-cluster-eaccess.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-cluster-eaccess.js
@@ -27,7 +27,12 @@ var path = require('path');
 var fs = require('fs');
 var net = require('net');
 
-var socketPath = path.join(common.fixturesDir, 'socket-path');
+var socketPath = common.PIPE;
+if (process.platform === 'win32') {
+  // for windows pipes are handled specially and we can't write to
+  // common.PIPE with fs.writeFileSync like we can on other platforms
+  socketPath = path.join(common.fixturesDir, 'socket-path');
+}
 
 if (cluster.isMaster) {
   var worker = cluster.fork();
diff --git a/test/simple/test-net-pipe-connect-errors.js b/test/simple/test-net-pipe-connect-errors.js
index 8200a16cf0baa2..6aa3cac9f7afe6 100644
--- a/test/simple/test-net-pipe-connect-errors.js
+++ b/test/simple/test-net-pipe-connect-errors.js
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@ var accessErrorFired = false;
 
 // Test if ENOTSOCK is fired when trying to connect to a file which is not
 // a socket.
-var emptyTxt = path.join(common.fixturesDir, 'empty.txt');
+var emptyTxt = path.join(common.pipeTmpDir, 'empty.txt');
+fs.closeSync(fs.openSync(emptyTxt, 'w'));
+
 var notSocketClient = net.createConnection(emptyTxt, function() {
   assert.ok(false);
 });
diff --git a/test/testpy/__init__.py b/test/testpy/__init__.py
index 9593a1f6428a7e..545367f11f7fcc 100644
--- a/test/testpy/__init__.py
+++ b/test/testpy/__init__.py
@@ -48,16 +48,22 @@ def __init__(self, path, file, mode, context, config, additional=[]):
     self.mode = mode
     self.tmpdir = join(dirname(self.config.root), 'tmp')
     self.additional_flags = additional
+    if "NODE_PIPE_DIR" in os.environ:
+      self.pipeTmpDir = join(os.environ["NODE_PIPE_DIR"], 'NodePipeTmp')
   
   def AfterRun(self, result):
     # delete the whole tmp dir
     try:
       rmtree(self.tmpdir)
+      if self.pipeTmpDir:
+        rmtree(self.pipeTmpDir);
     except:
       pass
     # make it again.
     try:
       mkdir(self.tmpdir)
+      if self.pipeTmpDir:
+        mkdir(self.pipeTmpDir);
     except:
       pass
 
@@ -65,6 +71,8 @@ def BeforeRun(self):
     # delete the whole tmp dir
     try:
       rmtree(self.tmpdir)
+      if self.pipeTmpDir:
+        rmtree(self.pipeTmpDir);
     except:
       pass
     # make it again.
@@ -72,6 +80,8 @@ def BeforeRun(self):
     while not os.path.exists(self.tmpdir):
       try:
         mkdir(self.tmpdir)
+        if self.pipeTmpDir:
+          mkdir(self.pipeTmpDir);
       except:
         pass