diff --git a/system-settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/network-scripts/Makefile.am b/system-settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/network-scripts/Makefile.am
index 0d9fee967b..80a4054a2d 100644
--- a/system-settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/network-scripts/Makefile.am
+++ b/system-settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/network-scripts/Makefile.am
@@ -55,3 +55,6 @@ check-local:
 		chmod 0600 $(abs_srcdir)/$$f; \
 	done
 
+# Make the special temp dir for some written connections
+	mkdir -p $(abs_builddir)/tmp
+
diff --git a/system-settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh.c b/system-settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh.c
index 3241ebbd98..1d3b8d44a7 100644
--- a/system-settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh.c
+++ b/system-settings/plugins/ifcfg-rh/tests/test-ifcfg-rh.c
@@ -4343,9 +4343,12 @@ test_read_write_static_routes_legacy (void)
 	        NM_SETTING_IP4_CONFIG_SETTING_NAME,
 	        NM_SETTING_IP4_CONFIG_NEVER_DEFAULT);
 
-	/* Save the ifcfg */
+	/* Save the ifcfg; use a special different scratch dir to ensure that
+	 * we can clean up after the written connection in both the original
+	 * source tree and for 'make distcheck'.
+	 */
 	success = writer_new_connection (connection,
-	                                 TEST_SCRATCH_DIR "/network-scripts/",
+	                                 TEST_SCRATCH_DIR "/network-scripts/tmp",
 	                                 &testfile,
 	                                 &error);
 	ASSERT (success == TRUE,