diff --git a/Lib/test/test_launcher.py b/Lib/test/test_launcher.py
index 4ff847737277d5..8ef1f5df8b4571 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_launcher.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_launcher.py
@@ -239,9 +239,11 @@ def run_py(self, args, env=None, allow_fail=False, expect_returncode=0, argv=Non
         return data
 
     def py_ini(self, content):
-        if not self.py_exe:
-            self.py_exe = self.find_py()
-        return PreservePyIni(self.py_exe.with_name("py.ini"), content)
+        local_appdata = os.environ.get("LOCALAPPDATA")
+        if not local_appdata:
+            raise unittest.SkipTest("LOCALAPPDATA environment variable is "
+                                    "missing or empty")
+        return PreservePyIni(Path(local_appdata) / "py.ini", content)
 
     @contextlib.contextmanager
     def script(self, content, encoding="utf-8"):