diff --git a/tests/qemu/Makefile.am b/tests/qemu/Makefile.am
index b1b3555c5..4c1469189 100644
--- a/tests/qemu/Makefile.am
+++ b/tests/qemu/Makefile.am
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ TESTS_ENVIRONMENT = $(top_builddir)/run --test
 
 EXTRA_DIST = \
 	$(TESTS) \
+	guestfs-md5.sh \
 	qemu-boot.c \
 	qemu-speed-test.c
 
diff --git a/tests/qemu/guestfs-md5.sh b/tests/qemu/guestfs-md5.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..79dbd6759
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/qemu/guestfs-md5.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+#!/bin/bash -
+# libguestfs
+# Copyright (C) 2014 Red Hat Inc.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
+# Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+
+do_md5 ()
+{
+  case "$(uname)" in
+    Linux)
+      md5sum "$1" | awk '{print $1}'
+      ;;
+    *)
+      echo "$0: unknown method to calculate MD5 of file on $(uname)"
+      exit 1
+      ;;
+  esac
+}
diff --git a/tests/qemu/qemu-liveness.sh b/tests/qemu/qemu-liveness.sh
index 4db71bd58..7129bb2af 100755
--- a/tests/qemu/qemu-liveness.sh
+++ b/tests/qemu/qemu-liveness.sh
@@ -22,10 +22,12 @@
 
 set -e
 
+. $srcdir/guestfs-md5.sh
+
 rm -f liveness1.img
 
 guestfish sparse liveness1.img 100M
-liveness1_md5sum="$(md5sum liveness1.img | awk '{print $1}')"
+liveness1_md5sum="$(do_md5 liveness1.img)"
 
 guestfish <<'EOF'
 add liveness1.img format:raw
@@ -41,7 +43,7 @@ write /test "This is a test"
 EOF
 
 # Verify that the disk has changed.
-if [ "$(md5sum liveness1.img | awk '{print $1}')" = "$liveness1_md5sum" ]; then
+if [ "$(do_md5 liveness1.img)" = "$liveness1_md5sum" ]; then
     echo "***** ERROR *****"
     echo "Write operations are not modifying an attached disk."
     echo
diff --git a/tests/qemu/qemu-snapshot-isolation.sh b/tests/qemu/qemu-snapshot-isolation.sh
index daa210f2d..c217dc46f 100755
--- a/tests/qemu/qemu-snapshot-isolation.sh
+++ b/tests/qemu/qemu-snapshot-isolation.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 
 set -e
 
+. $srcdir/guestfs-md5.sh
+
 # UML backend doesn't support qcow2 format.
 supports_qcow2=yes
 if [ "$(guestfish get-backend)" = "uml" ]; then
@@ -31,14 +33,14 @@ fi
 rm -f isolation1.img isolation2.img isolation3.img
 
 guestfish sparse isolation1.img 100M
-isolation1_md5sum="$(md5sum isolation1.img | awk '{print $1}')"
+isolation1_md5sum="$(do_md5 isolation1.img)"
 guestfish sparse isolation2.img 100M
-isolation2_md5sum="$(md5sum isolation2.img | awk '{print $1}')"
+isolation2_md5sum="$(do_md5 isolation2.img)"
 
 if [ "$supports_qcow2" = "yes" ]; then
     guestfish \
         disk-create isolation3.img qcow2 100M preallocation:metadata
-    isolation3_md5sum="$(md5sum isolation3.img | awk '{print $1}')"
+    isolation3_md5sum="$(do_md5 isolation3.img)"
     add3="add-drive-opts isolation3.img format:qcow2 readonly:true"
     cmds3="
       part-disk /dev/sdc mbr
@@ -92,14 +94,14 @@ function serious_error
     exit 1
 }
 
-if [ "$(md5sum isolation1.img | awk '{print $1}')" != "$isolation1_md5sum" ]; then
+if [ "$(do_md5 isolation1.img)" != "$isolation1_md5sum" ]; then
     serious_error
 fi
-if [ "$(md5sum isolation2.img | awk '{print $1}')" != "$isolation2_md5sum" ]; then
+if [ "$(do_md5 isolation2.img)" != "$isolation2_md5sum" ]; then
     serious_error
 fi
 if [ "$supports_qcow2" = "yes" -a \
-     "$(md5sum isolation3.img | awk '{print $1}')" != "$isolation3_md5sum" ]; then
+     "$(do_md5 isolation3.img)" != "$isolation3_md5sum" ]; then
     serious_error
 fi