diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config
index a220684b0f..df082e750c 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common.config
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ export LANG=C
 
 PATH=".:$PATH"
 
-HOST=`hostname -s`
+HOST=`hostname -s 2> /dev/null`
 HOSTOS=`uname -s`
 
 EMAIL=root@localhost    # where auto-qa will send its status messages