diff --git a/plugins/repository-hdfs/build.gradle b/plugins/repository-hdfs/build.gradle
index bf27ecc22c1..eb3004af2ad 100644
--- a/plugins/repository-hdfs/build.gradle
+++ b/plugins/repository-hdfs/build.gradle
@@ -64,8 +64,8 @@ dependencyLicenses {
 task hdfsFixture(type: org.elasticsearch.gradle.test.Fixture) {
   dependsOn project.configurations.hdfsFixture
   executable = new File(project.javaHome, 'bin/java')
-  args '-cp', "${ -> project.configurations.hdfsFixture.asPath }",
-       'hdfs.MiniHDFS',
+  env 'CLASSPATH', "${ -> project.configurations.hdfsFixture.asPath }"
+  args 'hdfs.MiniHDFS',
        baseDir
 }