diff --git a/tests/AutoconfTest.py b/tests/AutoconfTest.py
index 10e4292ca..f7d7c640b 100644
--- a/tests/AutoconfTest.py
+++ b/tests/AutoconfTest.py
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ class AutoconfTest(Test) :
                 if proc.returncode != 0 :
                     raise(Exception("setup-autoconf failed"))
             if isdir(example_data) :
-                proc = run("sudo cp -rp " + example_data + "/* /tmp/bw-data", shell=True)
+                proc = run("sudo bash -c 'cp -rp " + example_data + "/* /tmp/bw-data'", shell=True)
                 if proc.returncode != 0 :
                     raise(Exception("cp bw-data failed"))
             proc = run("docker-compose -f autoconf.yml pull", shell=True, cwd=test)
diff --git a/tests/DockerTest.py b/tests/DockerTest.py
index cec9efa70..cea22b32e 100644
--- a/tests/DockerTest.py
+++ b/tests/DockerTest.py
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ class DockerTest(Test) :
                 if proc.returncode != 0 :
                     raise(Exception("setup-docker failed"))
             if isdir(example_data) :
-                proc = run("sudo cp -rp " + example_data + "/* /tmp/bw-data", shell=True)
+                proc = run("sudo bash -c 'cp -rp " + example_data + "/* /tmp/bw-data'", shell=True)
                 if proc.returncode != 0 :
                     raise(Exception("cp bw-data failed"))
             proc = run("docker-compose pull", shell=True, cwd=test)