diff --git a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestMetaMigrationRemovingHTD.java b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestMetaMigrationRemovingHTD.java
index d1c15afd5a1..34e9956a373 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestMetaMigrationRemovingHTD.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestMetaMigrationRemovingHTD.java
@@ -77,6 +77,11 @@ public class TestMetaMigrationRemovingHTD {
     FileSystem fs = FileSystem.get(conf);
     // find where hbase will root itself, so we can copy filesystem there
     Path hbaseRootDir = TEST_UTIL.getDefaultRootDirPath();
+    if (!fs.isDirectory(hbaseRootDir.getParent())) {
+      // mkdir at first
+      doFsCommand(shell,
+        new String [] {"-mkdir", hbaseRootDir.getParent().toString()});
+    }
     doFsCommand(shell,
       new String [] {"-put", untar.toURI().toString(), hbaseRootDir.toString()});
     // See whats in minihdfs.