diff --git a/nixos/lib/test-driver/test-driver.py b/nixos/lib/test-driver/test-driver.py
index 7e575189209a..d5212413284a 100644
--- a/nixos/lib/test-driver/test-driver.py
+++ b/nixos/lib/test-driver/test-driver.py
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ class Machine:
             return path
 
         self.state_dir = create_dir("vm-state-{}".format(self.name))
-        self.shared_dir = create_dir("{}/xchg".format(self.state_dir))
+        self.shared_dir = create_dir("shared-xchg")
 
         self.booted = False
         self.connected = False