diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 357592ad39..a48103cc8a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ qemu-%.tar.bz2:
 distclean: clean recurse-distclean
 	-$(quiet-@)test -f build.ninja && $(NINJA) $(NINJAFLAGS) -t clean -g || :
 	rm -f config-host.mak Makefile.prereqs qemu-bundle
-	rm -f tests/tcg/config-*.mak
+	rm -f tests/tcg/*/config-target.mak tests/tcg/config-host.mak
 	rm -f config.status
 	rm -f roms/seabios/config.mak
 	rm -f qemu-plugins-ld.symbols qemu-plugins-ld64.symbols
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index a843a5637a..45ee6f4eb3 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -2468,10 +2468,6 @@ tcg_tests_targets=
 for target in $target_list; do
   arch=${target%%-*}
 
-  config_target_mak=tests/tcg/config-$target.mak
-
-  echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $config_target_mak
-  echo "TARGET_NAME=$arch" >> "$config_target_mak"
   case $target in
     xtensa*-linux-user)
       # the toolchain is not complete with headers, only build softmmu tests
@@ -2488,13 +2484,15 @@ for target in $target_list; do
 
   if probe_target_compiler $target || test -n "$container_image"; then
       test -n "$container_image" && build_static=y
-      write_target_makefile "build-tcg-tests-$target >> "$config_target_mak"
       mkdir -p "tests/tcg/$target"
+      config_target_mak=tests/tcg/$target/config-target.mak
       ln -sf "$source_path/tests/tcg/Makefile.target" "tests/tcg/$target/Makefile"
-      ln -sf "../config-$target.mak" "tests/tcg/$target/config-target.mak"
+      echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > "$config_target_mak"
+      echo "TARGET_NAME=$arch" >> "$config_target_mak"
       echo "TARGET=$target" >> "$config_target_mak"
-      echo "QEMU=$PWD/$qemu" >> "$config_target_mak"
+      write_target_makefile "build-tcg-tests-$target" >> "$config_target_mak"
       echo "BUILD_STATIC=$build_static" >> "$config_target_mak"
+      echo "QEMU=$PWD/$qemu" >> "$config_target_mak"
       echo "run-tcg-tests-$target: $qemu\$(EXESUF)" >> Makefile.prereqs
       tcg_tests_targets="$tcg_tests_targets $target"
   fi
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 4321b8f8da..536e819c60 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -3764,7 +3764,7 @@ summary(summary_info, bool_yn: true, section: 'Compilation')
 summary_info = {}
 have_cross = false
 foreach target: target_dirs
-  tcg_mak = meson.current_build_dir() / 'tests/tcg' / 'config-' + target + '.mak'
+  tcg_mak = meson.current_build_dir() / 'tests/tcg' / target / 'config-target.mak'
   if fs.exists(tcg_mak)
     config_cross_tcg = keyval.load(tcg_mak)
     if 'CC' in config_cross_tcg