diff --git a/tests/functional/qemu_test/cmd.py b/tests/functional/qemu_test/cmd.py
index 3acd617324..cbabb1ceed 100644
--- a/tests/functional/qemu_test/cmd.py
+++ b/tests/functional/qemu_test/cmd.py
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ def get_qemu_img(test):
     qemu_img = os.path.join(BUILD_DIR, 'qemu-img')
     if os.path.exists(qemu_img):
         return qemu_img
-    if has_cmd('qemu-img'):
+    (has_system_qemu_img, errmsg) = has_cmd('qemu-img')
+    if has_system_qemu_img:
         return 'qemu-img'
-    test.skipTest('Could not find "qemu-img", which is required to '
-                  'create temporary images')
+    test.skipTest(errmsg)
diff --git a/tests/functional/qemu_test/tesseract.py b/tests/functional/qemu_test/tesseract.py
index c4087b7c11..db441027b9 100644
--- a/tests/functional/qemu_test/tesseract.py
+++ b/tests/functional/qemu_test/tesseract.py
@@ -11,7 +11,8 @@ import logging
 from . import has_cmd, run_cmd
 
 def tesseract_available(expected_version):
-    if not has_cmd('tesseract'):
+    (has_tesseract, _) = has_cmd('tesseract')
+    if not has_tesseract:
         return False
     (stdout, stderr, ret) = run_cmd([ 'tesseract', '--version'])
     if ret: