diff --git a/configure b/configure
index a8c4094c87..d095ed45a4 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -7239,9 +7239,11 @@ for rom in seabios vgabios ; do
 done
 
 # set up tests data directory
-if [ ! -e tests/data ]; then
-    symlink "$source_path/tests/data" tests/data
-fi
+for tests_subdir in acceptance data; do
+    if [ ! -e tests/$tests_subdir ]; then
+        symlink "$source_path/tests/$tests_subdir" tests/$tests_subdir
+    fi
+done
 
 # set up qemu-iotests in this build directory
 iotests_common_env="tests/qemu-iotests/common.env"