diff --git a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
index 9bc5303dd8..498892c4fd 100644
--- a/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
+++ b/tests/qemuxml2argvtest.c
@@ -593,15 +593,8 @@ testInfoSetPaths(struct testQemuInfo *info,
 static int
 mymain(void)
 {
-    int ret = 0, i;
+    int ret = 0;
     char *fakerootdir;
-    const char *archs[] = {
-        "aarch64",
-        "ppc64",
-        "riscv64",
-        "s390x",
-        "x86_64",
-    };
     virHashTablePtr capslatest = NULL;
 
     if (VIR_STRDUP_QUIET(fakerootdir, FAKEROOTDIRTEMPLATE) < 0) {
@@ -670,24 +663,10 @@ mymain(void)
     if (VIR_STRDUP(driver.config->nvramDir, "/var/lib/libvirt/qemu/nvram") < 0)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
-    capslatest = virHashCreate(4, virHashValueFree);
+    capslatest = testQemuGetLatestCaps();
     if (!capslatest)
         return EXIT_FAILURE;
 
-    VIR_TEST_VERBOSE("\n");
-
-    for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_CARDINALITY(archs); ++i) {
-        char *cap = testQemuGetLatestCapsForArch(abs_srcdir "/qemucapabilitiesdata",
-                                                 archs[i], "xml");
-
-        if (!cap || virHashAddEntry(capslatest, archs[i], cap) < 0)
-            return EXIT_FAILURE;
-
-        VIR_TEST_VERBOSE("latest caps for %s: %s\n", archs[i], cap);
-    }
-
-    VIR_TEST_VERBOSE("\n");
-
     virFileWrapperAddPrefix(SYSCONFDIR "/qemu/firmware",
                             abs_srcdir "/qemufirmwaredata/etc/qemu/firmware");
     virFileWrapperAddPrefix(PREFIX "/share/qemu/firmware",
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.c b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
index 6286c7b3c7..3ee8a0c6c6 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.c
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.c
@@ -867,6 +867,43 @@ testQemuGetLatestCapsForArch(const char *dirname,
 }
 
 
+virHashTablePtr
+testQemuGetLatestCaps(void)
+{
+    const char *archs[] = {
+        "aarch64",
+        "ppc64",
+        "riscv64",
+        "s390x",
+        "x86_64",
+    };
+    virHashTablePtr capslatest;
+    size_t i;
+
+    if (!(capslatest = virHashCreate(4, virHashValueFree)))
+        goto error;
+
+    VIR_TEST_VERBOSE("\n");
+
+    for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_CARDINALITY(archs); ++i) {
+        char *cap = testQemuGetLatestCapsForArch(abs_srcdir "/qemucapabilitiesdata",
+                                                 archs[i], "xml");
+
+        if (!cap || virHashAddEntry(capslatest, archs[i], cap) < 0)
+            goto error;
+
+        VIR_TEST_VERBOSE("latest caps for %s: %s\n", archs[i], cap);
+    }
+
+    VIR_TEST_VERBOSE("\n");
+    return capslatest;
+
+ error:
+    virHashFree(capslatest);
+    return NULL;
+}
+
+
 int
 testQemuCapsIterate(const char *dirname,
                     const char *suffix,
diff --git a/tests/testutilsqemu.h b/tests/testutilsqemu.h
index 0cb5489ff4..9ff34841ff 100644
--- a/tests/testutilsqemu.h
+++ b/tests/testutilsqemu.h
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@ int testQemuCapsSetGIC(virQEMUCapsPtr qemuCaps,
 char *testQemuGetLatestCapsForArch(const char *dirname,
                                    const char *arch,
                                    const char *suffix);
+virHashTablePtr testQemuGetLatestCaps(void);
 
 typedef int (*testQemuCapsIterateCallback)(const char *base,
                                            const char *archName,