diff --git a/include/nm-test-utils.h b/include/nm-test-utils.h
index ca1508b108..83c4080fe0 100644
--- a/include/nm-test-utils.h
+++ b/include/nm-test-utils.h
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ struct __nmtst_internal
 	GRand *rand;
 	gboolean is_debug;
 	gboolean assert_logging;
+	gboolean no_expect_message;
 	char *sudo_cmd;
 	char **orig_argv;
 };
@@ -62,7 +63,7 @@ nmtst_initialized (void)
 #define __NMTST_LOG(cmd, fmt, ...) \
 	G_STMT_START { \
 		g_assert (nmtst_initialized ()); \
-		if (!__nmtst_internal.assert_logging) { \
+		if (!__nmtst_internal.assert_logging || __nmtst_internal.no_expect_message) { \
 			cmd (fmt, __VA_ARGS__); \
 		} else { \
 			printf (fmt "\n", __VA_ARGS__); \
@@ -146,6 +147,7 @@ __nmtst_init (int *argc, char ***argv, gboolean assert_logging, const char *log_
 	char *sudo_cmd = NULL;
 	GArray *debug_messages = g_array_new (TRUE, FALSE, sizeof (char *));
 	int i;
+	gboolean no_expect_message = FALSE;
 
 	g_assert (!nmtst_initialized ());
 
@@ -160,6 +162,10 @@ __nmtst_init (int *argc, char ***argv, gboolean assert_logging, const char *log_
 		/* g_test_init() is a variadic function, so we cannot pass it
 		 * (variadic) arguments. If you need to pass additional parameters,
 		 * call nmtst_init() with argc==NULL and call g_test_init() yourself. */
+
+		/* g_test_init() sets g_log_set_always_fatal() for G_LOG_LEVEL_WARNING
+		 * and G_LOG_LEVEL_CRITICAL. So, beware that the test will fail if you
+		 * have any WARN or ERR log messages -- unless you g_test_expect_message(). */
 		g_test_init (argc, argv, NULL);
 	}
 
@@ -200,6 +206,8 @@ __nmtst_init (int *argc, char ***argv, gboolean assert_logging, const char *log_
 			} else if (!g_ascii_strncasecmp (debug, "sudo-cmd=", strlen ("sudo-cmd="))) {
 				g_free (sudo_cmd);
 				sudo_cmd = g_strdup (&debug[strlen ("sudo-cmd=")]);
+			} else if (!g_ascii_strcasecmp (debug, "no-expect-message")) {
+				no_expect_message = TRUE;
 			} else {
 				char *msg = g_strdup_printf (">>> nmtst: ignore unrecognized NMTST_DEBUG option \"%s\"", debug);
 
@@ -225,6 +233,7 @@ __nmtst_init (int *argc, char ***argv, gboolean assert_logging, const char *log_
 	__nmtst_internal.is_debug = is_debug;
 	__nmtst_internal.rand0 = g_rand_new_with_seed (0);
 	__nmtst_internal.sudo_cmd = sudo_cmd;
+	__nmtst_internal.no_expect_message = no_expect_message;
 
 	if (!log_level && log_domains) {
 		/* if the log level is not specified (but the domain is), we assume
@@ -238,6 +247,11 @@ __nmtst_init (int *argc, char ***argv, gboolean assert_logging, const char *log_
 		success = nm_logging_setup (log_level, log_domains, NULL, NULL);
 #endif
 		g_assert (success);
+	} else if (__nmtst_internal.no_expect_message) {
+		/* We have a test that would be assert_logging, but the user specified no_expect_message.
+		 * This transforms g_test_expect_message() into a NOP, but we also have to relax
+		 * g_log_set_always_fatal(), which was set by g_test_init(). */
+		g_log_set_always_fatal (G_LOG_FATAL_MASK);
 	} else {
 #if GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,34,0)
 		/* We were called not to set logging levels. This means, that the user
@@ -249,7 +263,7 @@ __nmtst_init (int *argc, char ***argv, gboolean assert_logging, const char *log_
 #endif
 	}
 
-	if (!__nmtst_internal.assert_logging &&
+	if ((!__nmtst_internal.assert_logging || (__nmtst_internal.assert_logging && __nmtst_internal.no_expect_message)) &&
 	    (is_debug || (log_level && !g_ascii_strcasecmp (log_level, "DEBUG"))) &&
 	    !g_getenv ("G_MESSAGES_DEBUG"))
 	{
@@ -306,6 +320,21 @@ nmtst_is_debug (void)
 	return __nmtst_internal.is_debug;
 }
 
+#if GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,34,0)
+#undef g_test_expect_message
+#define g_test_expect_message(...) \
+	G_STMT_START { \
+		g_assert (nmtst_initialized ()); \
+		if (__nmtst_internal.assert_logging && __nmtst_internal.no_expect_message) { \
+			g_debug ("nmtst: swallow g_test_expect_message %s", G_STRINGIFY ((__VA_ARGS__))); \
+		} else { \
+			G_GNUC_BEGIN_IGNORE_DEPRECATIONS \
+			g_test_expect_message (__VA_ARGS__); \
+			G_GNUC_END_IGNORE_DEPRECATIONS \
+		} \
+	} G_STMT_END
+#endif
+
 inline static GRand *
 nmtst_get_rand0 ()
 {
diff --git a/libnm-util/tests/test-general.c b/libnm-util/tests/test-general.c
index bc63251754..5a54c558cb 100644
--- a/libnm-util/tests/test-general.c
+++ b/libnm-util/tests/test-general.c
@@ -2484,17 +2484,13 @@ test_setting_old_uuid (void)
 	g_assert (success == TRUE);
 }
 
+NMTST_DEFINE ();
+
 int main (int argc, char **argv)
 {
-	GError *error = NULL;
 	char *base;
 
-#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION (2, 35, 0)
-	g_type_init ();
-#endif
-
-	if (!nm_utils_init (&error))
-		FAIL ("nm-utils-init", "failed to initialize libnm-util: %s", error->message);
+	nmtst_init (&argc, &argv, TRUE);
 
 	/* The tests */
 	test_setting_vpn_items ();
diff --git a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh-utils.c b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh-utils.c
index cdb1f1f274..39c81027fe 100644
--- a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh-utils.c
+++ b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh-utils.c
@@ -113,10 +113,14 @@ test_ignored (const char *desc, const char *path, gboolean expected_ignored)
 	ASSERT (result == expected_ignored, desc, "unexpected ignore result for path '%s'", path);
 }
 
+NMTST_DEFINE ();
+
 int main (int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	char *base;
 
+	nmtst_init (&argc, &argv, TRUE);
+
 	/* The tests */
 	test_get_ifcfg_name ("get-ifcfg-name-bad", "/foo/bar/adfasdfadf", FALSE, NULL);
 	test_get_ifcfg_name ("get-ifcfg-name-good", "/foo/bar/ifcfg-FooBar", FALSE, "FooBar");
diff --git a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh.c b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh.c
index 5d91b2add3..9e0706def6 100644
--- a/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh.c
+++ b/src/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh.c
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@
 #include "reader.h"
 #include "writer.h"
 #include "utils.h"
+#include "nm-logging.h"
 
 #include "nm-test-utils.h"
 
@@ -14377,27 +14378,11 @@ test_svUnescape ()
 
 #define TPATH "/settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/"
 
+NMTST_DEFINE ();
+
 int main (int argc, char **argv)
 {
-	GError *error = NULL;
-	gboolean success;
-
-	g_test_init (&argc, &argv, NULL);
-#if GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,34,0)
-	/* consider even unexpected g_message()s to be fatal */
-	g_log_set_always_fatal (G_LOG_LEVEL_MASK);
-#else
-	/* g_test_expect_message() is dummied out, so allow warnings */
-	g_log_set_always_fatal (G_LOG_LEVEL_CRITICAL);
-#endif
-
-#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION (2, 35, 0)
-	g_type_init ();
-#endif
-
-	success = nm_utils_init (&error);
-	g_assert_no_error (error);
-	g_assert (success);
+	nmtst_init_assert_logging (&argc, &argv);
 
 	g_test_add_func (TPATH "svUnescape", test_svUnescape);
 
diff --git a/src/settings/plugins/ifnet/tests/test_all.c b/src/settings/plugins/ifnet/tests/test_all.c
index dc93dcccd6..c320ed5f8f 100644
--- a/src/settings/plugins/ifnet/tests/test_all.c
+++ b/src/settings/plugins/ifnet/tests/test_all.c
@@ -451,16 +451,16 @@ test_missing_config ()
 	        "get connection should fail with 'Unknown config for eth8'");
 }
 
+NMTST_DEFINE ();
+
 int
 main (int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	char *f;
 
-#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION (2, 35, 0)
-	g_type_init ();
-#endif
-
 	nm_linux_platform_setup ();
+
+	nmtst_init_assert_logging (&argc, &argv);
 	nm_logging_setup ("WARN", "DEFAULT", NULL, NULL);
 
 	f = g_build_filename (argv[1], "net", NULL);
diff --git a/src/supplicant-manager/tests/test-supplicant-config.c b/src/supplicant-manager/tests/test-supplicant-config.c
index 2b917625a6..ce884a8dd5 100644
--- a/src/supplicant-manager/tests/test-supplicant-config.c
+++ b/src/supplicant-manager/tests/test-supplicant-config.c
@@ -494,17 +494,13 @@ test_wifi_wpa_psk_types (void)
 	test_wifi_wpa_psk ("wifi-wep-psk-passphrase", TYPE_STRING, key2, (gconstpointer) key2, strlen (key2));
 }
 
+NMTST_DEFINE ();
+
 int main (int argc, char **argv)
 {
-	GError *error = NULL;
 	char *base;
 
-#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION (2, 35, 0)
-	g_type_init ();
-#endif
-
-	if (!nm_utils_init (&error))
-		FAIL ("nm-utils-init", "failed to initialize libnm-util: %s", error->message);
+	nmtst_init (&argc, &argv, TRUE);
 
 	/* The tests */
 	test_wifi_open ();
diff --git a/src/tests/test-dhcp-options.c b/src/tests/test-dhcp-options.c
index 96e9b5c822..5df17e587c 100644
--- a/src/tests/test-dhcp-options.c
+++ b/src/tests/test-dhcp-options.c
@@ -837,24 +837,15 @@ test_ip4_prefix_classless (gconstpointer test_data)
 	g_hash_table_destroy (options);
 }
 
+NMTST_DEFINE ();
+
 int main (int argc, char **argv)
 {
-	GError *error = NULL;
 	char *path;
 	const char *clients[2][2] = { {DHCLIENT_PATH, "dhclient"}, {DHCPCD_PATH, "dhcpcd"} };
 	guint32 i;
 
-	g_test_init (&argc, &argv, NULL);
-#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION(2,34,0)
-	g_log_set_always_fatal (G_LOG_LEVEL_CRITICAL);
-#endif
-
-#if !GLIB_CHECK_VERSION (2, 35, 0)
-	g_type_init ();
-#endif
-
-	if (!nm_utils_init (&error))
-		FAIL ("nm-utils-init", "failed to initialize libnm-util: %s", error->message);
+	nmtst_init_assert_logging (&argc, &argv);
 	nm_logging_setup ("WARN", "DEFAULT", NULL, NULL);
 
 	for (i = 0; i < 2; i++) {