diff --git a/test/parallel/test-fs-link.js b/test/parallel/test-fs-link.js
index acbedc1452231d..292d48fb53e5c6 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-fs-link.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-fs-link.js
@@ -7,14 +7,14 @@ const fs = require('fs');
 common.refreshTmpDir();
 
 // test creating and reading hard link
-const srcPath = path.join(common.fixturesDir, 'cycles', 'root.js');
+const srcPath = path.join(common.tmpDir, 'hardlink-target.txt');
 const dstPath = path.join(common.tmpDir, 'link1.js');
+fs.writeFileSync(srcPath, 'hello world');
 
 const callback = function(err) {
   if (err) throw err;
-  const srcContent = fs.readFileSync(srcPath, 'utf8');
   const dstContent = fs.readFileSync(dstPath, 'utf8');
-  assert.strictEqual(srcContent, dstContent);
+  assert.strictEqual('hello world', dstContent);
 };
 
 fs.link(srcPath, dstPath, common.mustCall(callback));