diff --git a/test/test-utils-glib.c b/test/test-utils-glib.c
index 30b9836c..bcd83d11 100644
--- a/test/test-utils-glib.c
+++ b/test/test-utils-glib.c
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 # include <unistd.h>
 # include <sys/socket.h>
 # include <sys/types.h>
+# include <sys/wait.h>
 # include <pwd.h>
 #endif
 
@@ -66,6 +67,61 @@ _test_assert_no_error (const DBusError *e,
 }
 
 #ifdef DBUS_UNIX
+static gboolean
+can_become_user_or_skip (uid_t uid)
+{
+  gchar *message;
+  pid_t child_pid;
+  pid_t pid;
+  int wstatus;
+
+  /* We can't switch to the uid without affecting the whole process,
+   * which we don't necessarily want to do, so try it in a child process. */
+  child_pid = fork ();
+
+  if (child_pid < 0)
+    g_error ("fork: %s", g_strerror (errno));
+
+  if (child_pid == 0)
+    {
+      /* Child process: try to become uid, exit 0 on success, exit with
+       * status = errno on failure */
+
+      if (setuid (uid) != 0)
+        {
+          /* make sure we report failure even if errno is wrong */
+          if (errno == 0)
+            errno = ENODATA;
+
+          _exit (errno);
+        }
+
+      /* success */
+      _exit (0);
+    }
+
+  /* Parent process: wait for child and report result */
+
+  pid = waitpid (child_pid, &wstatus, 0);
+  g_assert_cmpuint (child_pid, ==, pid);
+
+  if (WIFEXITED (wstatus) && WEXITSTATUS (wstatus) == 0)
+    return TRUE;
+
+  if (WIFEXITED (wstatus))
+    message = g_strdup_printf ("unable to become uid %lu: %s",
+                               (unsigned long) uid,
+                               g_strerror (WEXITSTATUS (wstatus)));
+  else
+    message = g_strdup_printf ("unable to become uid %lu: unknown wait status %d",
+                               (unsigned long) uid,
+                               wstatus);
+
+  g_test_skip (message);
+  g_free (message);
+  return FALSE;
+}
+
 static void
 child_setup (gpointer user_data)
 {
@@ -141,6 +197,9 @@ spawn_dbus_daemon (const gchar *binary,
                 return NULL;
               }
 
+            if (!can_become_user_or_skip (pwd->pw_uid))
+              return NULL;
+
             if (user == TEST_USER_ROOT_DROP_TO_MESSAGEBUS)
               {
                 /* Let the dbus-daemon start as root and drop privileges
@@ -163,6 +222,9 @@ spawn_dbus_daemon (const gchar *binary,
                 return NULL;
               }
 
+            if (!can_become_user_or_skip (pwd->pw_uid))
+              return NULL;
+
             break;
 
           case TEST_USER_ME: