diff --git a/tests/encoding_tests/check_encoding.c b/tests/encoding_tests/check_encoding.c
index 1f74416941..45f7d6ff50 100644
--- a/tests/encoding_tests/check_encoding.c
+++ b/tests/encoding_tests/check_encoding.c
@@ -99,10 +99,8 @@ static void check_iconv_ascii(void **state)
     (void) state; /* unused */
 }
 
-
-
-#define TESTSTRING "#äA\\#fߧ4"
-#define LTESTSTRING L"#äA\\#fߧ4"
+#define TESTSTRING "#cA\\#fߧ4"
+#define LTESTSTRING L"#cA\\#fߧ4"
 
 static void check_to_multibyte(void **state)
 {
diff --git a/tests/vio_tests/check_vio.c b/tests/vio_tests/check_vio.c
index 5c6d5293a2..0fb28bb06a 100644
--- a/tests/vio_tests/check_vio.c
+++ b/tests/vio_tests/check_vio.c
@@ -212,15 +212,15 @@ static void check_csync_vio_opendir_perm(void **state)
 
     assert_non_null(dir);
 
-    rc = _tmkdir(dir, S_IWUSR);
+    rc = _tmkdir(dir, (S_IWUSR|S_IXUSR));
     assert_int_equal(rc, 0);
-    c_free_locale_string(dir);
 
     dh = csync_vio_opendir(csync, CSYNC_TEST_DIR);
     assert_null(dh);
     assert_int_equal(errno, EACCES);
 
-    _tchmod(dir, S_IRWXU);
+    _tchmod(dir, MKDIR_MASK);
+    c_free_locale_string(dir);
 }
 
 static void check_csync_vio_closedir_null(void **state)