diff --git a/src/bin/auth/tests/command_unittest.cc b/src/bin/auth/tests/command_unittest.cc
index fe315c2af8..bcaf4b115c 100644
--- a/src/bin/auth/tests/command_unittest.cc
+++ b/src/bin/auth/tests/command_unittest.cc
@@ -195,9 +195,9 @@ zoneChecks(AuthSrv& server) {
 
 void
 configureZones(AuthSrv& server) {
-    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " " TEST_DATA_DIR "/test1.zone.in "
+    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " -c " TEST_DATA_DIR "/test1.zone.in "
                         TEST_DATA_BUILDDIR "/test1.zone.copied"));
-    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " " TEST_DATA_DIR "/test2.zone.in "
+    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " -c " TEST_DATA_DIR "/test2.zone.in "
                         TEST_DATA_BUILDDIR "/test2.zone.copied"));
     configureAuthServer(server, Element::fromJSON(
                             "{\"datasources\": "
@@ -236,10 +236,10 @@ newZoneChecks(AuthSrv& server) {
 TEST_F(AuthCommandTest, loadZone) {
     configureZones(server_);
 
-    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " " TEST_DATA_DIR
+    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " -c " TEST_DATA_DIR
                         "/test1-new.zone.in "
                         TEST_DATA_BUILDDIR "/test1.zone.copied"));
-    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " " TEST_DATA_DIR
+    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " -c " TEST_DATA_DIR
                         "/test2-new.zone.in "
                         TEST_DATA_BUILDDIR "/test2.zone.copied"));
 
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ TEST_F(AuthCommandTest,
 TEST_F(AuthCommandTest, loadBrokenZone) {
     configureZones(server_);
 
-    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " " TEST_DATA_DIR
+    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " -c " TEST_DATA_DIR
                         "/test1-broken.zone.in "
                         TEST_DATA_BUILDDIR "/test1.zone.copied"));
     result_ = execAuthServerCommand(server_, "loadzone",
@@ -390,7 +390,7 @@ TEST_F(AuthCommandTest, loadUnreadableZone) {
     configureZones(server_);
 
     // install the zone file as unreadable
-    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " -m 000 " TEST_DATA_DIR
+    ASSERT_EQ(0, system(INSTALL_PROG " -c -m 000 " TEST_DATA_DIR
                         "/test1.zone.in "
                         TEST_DATA_BUILDDIR "/test1.zone.copied"));
     result_ = execAuthServerCommand(server_, "loadzone",
diff --git a/src/bin/auth/tests/datasrc_util.cc b/src/bin/auth/tests/datasrc_util.cc
index d9e99b69b0..664ae8c5c5 100644
--- a/src/bin/auth/tests/datasrc_util.cc
+++ b/src/bin/auth/tests/datasrc_util.cc
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ createSQLite3DB(RRClass zclass, const Name& zname,
 {
     // We always begin with an empty template SQLite3 DB file and install
     // the zone data from the zone file.
-    const char* const install_cmd_prefix = INSTALL_PROG " " TEST_DATA_DIR
+    const char* const install_cmd_prefix = INSTALL_PROG " -c " TEST_DATA_DIR
         "/rwtest.sqlite3 ";
     const string install_cmd = string(install_cmd_prefix) + db_file;
     if (system(install_cmd.c_str()) != 0) {
diff --git a/src/lib/datasrc/tests/database_unittest.cc b/src/lib/datasrc/tests/database_unittest.cc
index 602ed24e47..110b3f0734 100644
--- a/src/lib/datasrc/tests/database_unittest.cc
+++ b/src/lib/datasrc/tests/database_unittest.cc
@@ -1155,7 +1155,7 @@ public:
         // probably move this to some specialized templated method specific
         // to SQLite3 (or for even a longer term we should add an API to
         // purge the diffs table).
-        const char* const install_cmd = INSTALL_PROG " " TEST_DATA_COMMONDIR
+        const char* const install_cmd = INSTALL_PROG " -c " TEST_DATA_COMMONDIR
             "/rwtest.sqlite3 " TEST_DATA_BUILDDIR
             "/rwtest.sqlite3.copied";
         if (system(install_cmd) != 0) {
diff --git a/src/lib/datasrc/tests/sqlite3_accessor_unittest.cc b/src/lib/datasrc/tests/sqlite3_accessor_unittest.cc
index bde3e0f02d..718d29b4dd 100644
--- a/src/lib/datasrc/tests/sqlite3_accessor_unittest.cc
+++ b/src/lib/datasrc/tests/sqlite3_accessor_unittest.cc
@@ -764,7 +764,7 @@ protected:
     SQLite3Update() {
         // Note: if "installing" the test file fails some of the subsequent
         // tests would fail.
-        const char *install_cmd = INSTALL_PROG " " TEST_DATA_DIR
+        const char *install_cmd = INSTALL_PROG " -c " TEST_DATA_DIR
                                   "/test.sqlite3 " TEST_DATA_BUILDDIR
                                   "/test.sqlite3.copied";
         if (system(install_cmd) != 0) {
diff --git a/src/lib/datasrc/tests/test_client.cc b/src/lib/datasrc/tests/test_client.cc
index 3974371690..c7854edb91 100644
--- a/src/lib/datasrc/tests/test_client.cc
+++ b/src/lib/datasrc/tests/test_client.cc
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ createSQLite3Client(RRClass zclass, const Name& zname,
     // We always begin with an empty template SQLite3 DB file and install
     // the zone data from the zone file to ensure both cases have the
     // same test data.
-    const char* const install_cmd_prefix = INSTALL_PROG " " TEST_DATA_COMMONDIR
+    const char* const install_cmd_prefix = INSTALL_PROG " -c " TEST_DATA_COMMONDIR
         "/rwtest.sqlite3 ";
     const string install_cmd = string(install_cmd_prefix) + db_file;
     if (system(install_cmd.c_str()) != 0) {