diff --git a/lucene/src/test-framework/java/org/apache/lucene/util/LuceneTestCase.java b/lucene/src/test-framework/java/org/apache/lucene/util/LuceneTestCase.java
index 2091f85645a..4a7b01e41d3 100644
--- a/lucene/src/test-framework/java/org/apache/lucene/util/LuceneTestCase.java
+++ b/lucene/src/test-framework/java/org/apache/lucene/util/LuceneTestCase.java
@@ -1179,8 +1179,13 @@ public abstract class LuceneTestCase extends Assert {
     return d;
   }
 
-  /** Registers a temp file that will be deleted when tests are done. */
-  public static void registerTempFile(File tmpFile) {
+  /**
+   * Registers a temp directory that will be deleted when tests are done. This
+   * is used by {@link _TestUtil#getTempDir(String)} and
+   * {@link _TestUtil#unzip(File, File)}, so you should call these methods when
+   * possible.
+   */
+  static void registerTempDir(File tmpFile) {
     tempDirs.put(tmpFile.getAbsoluteFile(), Thread.currentThread().getStackTrace());
   }
   
@@ -1193,11 +1198,9 @@ public abstract class LuceneTestCase extends Assert {
       final Class<? extends Directory> clazz = Class.forName(clazzName).asSubclass(Directory.class);
       // If it is a FSDirectory type, try its ctor(File)
       if (FSDirectory.class.isAssignableFrom(clazz)) {
-        final File tmpFile = _TestUtil.createTempFile("test", "tmp", TEMP_DIR);
-        tmpFile.delete();
-        tmpFile.mkdir();
-        registerTempFile(tmpFile);
-        return newFSDirectoryImpl(clazz.asSubclass(FSDirectory.class), tmpFile);
+        final File dir = _TestUtil.getTempDir("index");
+        dir.mkdirs(); // ensure it's created so we 'have' it.
+        return newFSDirectoryImpl(clazz.asSubclass(FSDirectory.class), dir);
       }
 
       // try empty ctor
diff --git a/lucene/src/test-framework/java/org/apache/lucene/util/_TestUtil.java b/lucene/src/test-framework/java/org/apache/lucene/util/_TestUtil.java
index d0fd0264186..d37c4ccd5dc 100644
--- a/lucene/src/test-framework/java/org/apache/lucene/util/_TestUtil.java
+++ b/lucene/src/test-framework/java/org/apache/lucene/util/_TestUtil.java
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ public class _TestUtil {
     try {
       File f = createTempFile(desc, "tmp", LuceneTestCase.TEMP_DIR);
       f.delete();
-      LuceneTestCase.registerTempFile(f);
+      LuceneTestCase.registerTempDir(f);
       return f;
     } catch (IOException e) {
       throw new RuntimeException(e);
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ public class _TestUtil {
    */
   public static void rmDir(File dir) throws IOException {
     if (dir.exists()) {
+      if (dir.isFile() && !dir.delete()) {
+        throw new IOException("could not delete " + dir);
+      }
       for (File f : dir.listFiles()) {
         if (f.isDirectory()) {
           rmDir(f);
@@ -101,7 +104,7 @@ public class _TestUtil {
     rmDir(destDir);
     
     destDir.mkdir();
-    LuceneTestCase.registerTempFile(destDir);
+    LuceneTestCase.registerTempDir(destDir);
     
     while (entries.hasMoreElements()) {
       ZipEntry entry = entries.nextElement();