diff --git a/src/tests/cursor-tests.c b/src/tests/cursor-tests.c
index 0c84e876e..251311ec5 100644
--- a/src/tests/cursor-tests.c
+++ b/src/tests/cursor-tests.c
@@ -672,6 +672,7 @@ main (int    argc,
       char **argv)
 {
   g_autoptr (MetaContext) context = NULL;
+  g_autofree char *path = NULL;
 
   context = meta_create_test_context (META_CONTEXT_TEST_TYPE_TEST,
                                       (META_CONTEXT_TEST_FLAG_NO_X11 |
@@ -681,6 +682,9 @@ main (int    argc,
   meta_context_test_set_background_color (META_CONTEXT_TEST (context),
                                           COGL_COLOR_INIT (255, 255, 255, 255));
 
+  path = g_test_build_filename (G_TEST_DIST, "tests", "xcursors", NULL);
+  g_setenv ("XCURSOR_PATH", path, TRUE);
+
   test_context = context;
 
   init_tests ();
diff --git a/src/tests/meson.build b/src/tests/meson.build
index 22a56218a..94265c491 100644
--- a/src/tests/meson.build
+++ b/src/tests/meson.build
@@ -1091,6 +1091,7 @@ if have_installed_tests
   install_subdir('migration', install_dir: tests_datadir)
   install_subdir('ref-tests', install_dir: tests_datadir)
   install_subdir('icc-profiles', install_dir: tests_datadir)
+  install_subdir('xcursors', install_dir: tests_datadir)
 
   install_data('org.gnome.mutter.test.gschema.xml', install_dir: tests_datadir)
 
diff --git a/src/tests/wayland-test-clients/cursor-tests-client.c b/src/tests/wayland-test-clients/cursor-tests-client.c
index 2a425bbfb..c5d743ed1 100644
--- a/src/tests/wayland-test-clients/cursor-tests-client.c
+++ b/src/tests/wayland-test-clients/cursor-tests-client.c
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ on_pointer_enter (WaylandSurface    *surface,
            "and actual scale %f",
            effective_theme_size, theme_size, scale);
 
-  cursor_theme = wl_cursor_theme_load ("Adwaita",
+  cursor_theme = wl_cursor_theme_load (NULL,
                                        effective_theme_size,
                                        display->shm);
   cursor = wl_cursor_theme_get_cursor (cursor_theme, cursor_name);
diff --git a/src/tests/xcursors/default/cursors/default b/src/tests/xcursors/default/cursors/default
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c7da31582
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/tests/xcursors/default/cursors/default differ
diff --git a/src/tests/xcursors/default/cursors/move b/src/tests/xcursors/default/cursors/move
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..15383fddd
Binary files /dev/null and b/src/tests/xcursors/default/cursors/move differ