diff --git a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/modular/src/libstore-tests/package.nix b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/modular/src/libstore-tests/package.nix
index c1ab5a95d536..47e3128ec1a2 100644
--- a/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/modular/src/libstore-tests/package.nix
+++ b/pkgs/tools/package-management/nix/modular/src/libstore-tests/package.nix
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ mkMesonExecutable (finalAttrs: {
           }
           (''
             export _NIX_TEST_UNIT_DATA=${data + "/src/libstore-tests/data"}
+            export NIX_REMOTE=$HOME/store
             ${stdenv.hostPlatform.emulator buildPackages} ${lib.getExe finalAttrs.finalPackage} \
               --gtest_filter=-${lib.concatStringsSep ":" finalAttrs.excludedTestPatterns}
             touch $out