diff --git a/src/test/org/apache/solr/core/TestJmxIntegration.java b/src/test/org/apache/solr/core/TestJmxIntegration.java
index d32ee9f46a5..a308875c0c4 100644
--- a/src/test/org/apache/solr/core/TestJmxIntegration.java
+++ b/src/test/org/apache/solr/core/TestJmxIntegration.java
@@ -86,7 +86,14 @@ public class TestJmxIntegration extends AbstractSolrTestCase {
     System.err.println("Servers in testJmxUpdate: " + servers);
     System.err.println(h.getCore().getInfoRegistry());
 
-    ObjectName searcher = getObjectName("searcher", h.getCore().getInfoRegistry().get("searcher")); 
+    ObjectName searcher = null;
+    // wait until searcher is registered
+    for (int i=0; i<100; i++) {
+      searcher = getObjectName("searcher", h.getCore().getInfoRegistry().get("searcher"));
+      if (searcher != null) break;
+      Thread.sleep(250);
+    }
+    if (searcher==null) throw new RuntimeException("searcher was never registered");
     MBeanServer mbeanServer = servers.get(0);
     System.err.println("Mbeans in server: " + mbeanServer.queryNames(null, null));