diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 2798006977b..5eb1f130a8a 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ Release 2.0.5-beta - UNRELEASED
     (which in turn throws SIGABRT) causing client crashes. (Colin Patrick
     McCabe via atm)
 
-  BREAKDOWN OF HADOOP-8562 SUBTASKS
+  BREAKDOWN OF HADOOP-8562 SUBTASKS AND RELATED JIRAS
 
     HADOOP-8924. Hadoop Common creating package-info.java must not depend on
     sh. (Chris Nauroth via suresh)
@@ -332,6 +332,9 @@ Release 2.0.5-beta - UNRELEASED
 
     HADOOP-9443. Port winutils static code analysis change to trunk.
     (Chuan Liu via suresh)
+
+    HADOOP-9290. Some tests cannot load native library on windows.
+    (Chris Nauroth via suresh)
     
 Release 2.0.4-beta - UNRELEASED
 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/contrib/bkjournal/pom.xml b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/contrib/bkjournal/pom.xml
index 7b3c5c09010..4c993890d1b 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/contrib/bkjournal/pom.xml
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/contrib/bkjournal/pom.xml
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
 
   <properties>
     <hadoop.component>hdfs</hadoop.component>
+    <hadoop.common.build.dir>${basedir}/../../../../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target</hadoop.common.build.dir>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/pom.xml b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/pom.xml
index a5a5b5b9784..d24604c264c 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/pom.xml
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/pom.xml
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
   <properties>
-    <!-- Needed for generating FindBugs warnings using parent pom -->
+    <hadoop.common.build.dir>${basedir}/../../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target</hadoop.common.build.dir>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
@@ -176,10 +176,6 @@
        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
        <configuration>
-         <environmentVariables>
-           <!-- HADOOP_HOME required for tests on Windows to find winutils -->
-           <HADOOP_HOME>${basedir}/../../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target</HADOOP_HOME>
-         </environmentVariables>
          <properties>
            <property>
              <name>listener</name>
diff --git a/hadoop-project/pom.xml b/hadoop-project/pom.xml
index 7f60f31f245..7c28bc1ebb3 100644
--- a/hadoop-project/pom.xml
+++ b/hadoop-project/pom.xml
@@ -50,9 +50,10 @@
 
     <test.build.dir>${project.build.directory}/test-dir</test.build.dir>
     <test.build.data>${test.build.dir}</test.build.data>
-    
-    <test.build.dir>${project.build.directory}/test-dir</test.build.dir>
-    <test.build.data>${test.build.dir}</test.build.data>
+
+    <!-- Used for building path to native library loaded by tests.  Projects -->
+    <!-- at different nesting levels in the source tree may need to override. -->
+    <hadoop.common.build.dir>${basedir}/../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target</hadoop.common.build.dir>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencyManagement>
@@ -841,8 +842,8 @@
           <argLine>-Xmx1024m -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError</argLine>
           <environmentVariables>
             <!-- HADOOP_HOME required for tests on Windows to find winutils -->
-            <HADOOP_HOME>${basedir}/../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target</HADOOP_HOME>
-            <LD_LIBRARY_PATH>${env.LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${project.build.directory}/native/target/usr/local/lib:${basedir}/../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target/native/target/usr/local/lib/</LD_LIBRARY_PATH>
+            <HADOOP_HOME>${hadoop.common.build.dir}</HADOOP_HOME>
+            <LD_LIBRARY_PATH>${env.LD_LIBRARY_PATH}:${project.build.directory}/native/target/usr/local/lib:${hadoop.common.build.dir}/native/target/usr/local/lib</LD_LIBRARY_PATH>
             <MALLOC_ARENA_MAX>4</MALLOC_ARENA_MAX>
           </environmentVariables>
           <systemPropertyVariables>
@@ -921,7 +922,7 @@
             <configuration>
               <environmentVariables>
                 <!-- Specify where to look for the native DLL on Windows -->
-                <PATH>${env.PATH};${basedir}/../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target/bin</PATH>
+                <PATH>${env.PATH};${hadoop.common.build.dir}/bin</PATH>
               </environmentVariables>
             </configuration>
           </plugin>
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-applications/pom.xml b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-applications/pom.xml
index 2c3d6b7341b..c10fa1802ed 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-applications/pom.xml
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-applications/pom.xml
@@ -28,32 +28,15 @@
   <name>hadoop-yarn-applications</name>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
+  <properties>
+    <hadoop.common.build.dir>${basedir}/../../../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target</hadoop.common.build.dir>
+  </properties>
+
   <modules>
     <module>hadoop-yarn-applications-distributedshell</module>
     <module>hadoop-yarn-applications-unmanaged-am-launcher</module>
   </modules>
 
-  <build>
-    <plugins>
-      <plugin>
-        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-        <configuration>
-          <environmentVariables>
-            <!-- HADOOP_HOME required for tests on Windows to find winutils -->
-            <HADOOP_HOME>${basedir}/../../../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target</HADOOP_HOME>
-          </environmentVariables>
-          <properties>
-            <property>
-              <name>listener</name>
-              <value>org.apache.hadoop.test.TimedOutTestsListener</value>
-            </property>
-          </properties>
-        </configuration>
-      </plugin>
-    </plugins>
-  </build>
-
  <profiles>
   <profile>
     <id>clover</id>
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/pom.xml b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/pom.xml
index 72b9dd204c5..43463c3cc24 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/pom.xml
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/hadoop-yarn-server/pom.xml
@@ -28,26 +28,9 @@
   <name>hadoop-yarn-server</name>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
 
-  <build>
-    <plugins>
-      <plugin>
-        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-        <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
-        <configuration>
-          <environmentVariables>
-            <!-- HADOOP_HOME required for tests on Windows to find winutils -->
-            <HADOOP_HOME>${basedir}/../../../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target</HADOOP_HOME>
-          </environmentVariables>
-          <properties>
-            <property>
-              <name>listener</name>
-              <value>org.apache.hadoop.test.TimedOutTestsListener</value>
-            </property>
-          </properties>
-        </configuration>
-      </plugin>
-    </plugins>
-  </build>
+  <properties>
+    <hadoop.common.build.dir>${basedir}/../../../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target</hadoop.common.build.dir>
+  </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
     <dependency>
diff --git a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/pom.xml b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/pom.xml
index cadf8b4634a..e1c88d634e1 100644
--- a/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/pom.xml
+++ b/hadoop-yarn-project/hadoop-yarn/pom.xml
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
     <test.logs>true</test.logs>
     <test.timeout>600000</test.timeout>
     <yarn.basedir>${basedir}</yarn.basedir>
+    <hadoop.common.build.dir>${basedir}/../../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target</hadoop.common.build.dir>
   </properties>
 
   <dependencies>
@@ -159,10 +160,6 @@
         <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
         <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
         <configuration>
-          <environmentVariables>
-            <!-- HADOOP_HOME required for tests on Windows to find winutils -->
-            <HADOOP_HOME>${basedir}/../../../hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/target</HADOOP_HOME>
-          </environmentVariables>
           <properties>
             <property>
               <name>listener</name>