diff --git a/test/common.js b/test/common.js
index 6fb357ba2586a2..b1e950e1bc7c97 100644
--- a/test/common.js
+++ b/test/common.js
@@ -71,9 +71,35 @@ function rmdirSync(p, originalEr) {
   }
 }
 
+function mkdirpSync(p, made) {
+  if (!made)
+    made = null;
+
+  try {
+    fs.mkdirSync(p);
+    made = made || p;
+  } catch (err0) {
+    if (err0.code === 'ENOENT') {
+      made = mkdirpSync(path.dirname(p), made);
+      mkdirpSync(p, made);
+      return made;
+    }
+
+    var stat;
+    try {
+      stat = fs.statSync(p);
+    } catch (err1) {
+      throw err0;
+    }
+    if (!stat.isDirectory())
+      throw err0;
+  }
+  return made;
+}
+
 exports.refreshTmpDir = function() {
   rimrafSync(exports.tmpDir);
-  fs.mkdirSync(exports.tmpDir);
+  mkdirpSync(exports.tmpDir);
 };
 
 if (process.env.TEST_THREAD_ID) {
diff --git a/tools/test.py b/tools/test.py
index 3cd2778930c8ab..22382d1c7a7773 100755
--- a/tools/test.py
+++ b/tools/test.py
@@ -1562,15 +1562,8 @@ def Main():
     for rule in globally_unused_rules:
       print "Rule for '%s' was not used." % '/'.join([str(s) for s in rule.path])
 
-  tempdir = os.environ.get('NODE_TEST_DIR') or options.temp_dir
-  if tempdir:
-    try:
-      os.makedirs(tempdir)
-      os.environ['NODE_TEST_DIR'] = tempdir
-    except OSError as exception:
-      if exception.errno != errno.EEXIST:
-        print "Could not create the temporary directory", options.temp_dir
-        sys.exit(1)
+  if not os.environ.get('NODE_TEST_DIR') and options.temp_dir:
+    os.environ['NODE_TEST_DIR'] = options.temp_dir
 
   if options.report:
     PrintReport(all_cases)