diff --git a/test/AndroidManifest.xml b/test/AndroidManifest.xml
index 12eccb755..747886971 100644
--- a/test/AndroidManifest.xml
+++ b/test/AndroidManifest.xml
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@
     <application>
         <uses-library android:name="android.test.runner"/>
     </application>
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
+    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
     <!--
     This declares that this application uses the instrumentation test runner targeting
     the package of org.fdroid.fdroid.  To run the tests use the command:
diff --git a/test/src/org/fdroid/fdroid/updater/SignedRepoUpdaterTest.java b/test/src/org/fdroid/fdroid/updater/SignedRepoUpdaterTest.java
index 7a045379a..42d9ad28c 100644
--- a/test/src/org/fdroid/fdroid/updater/SignedRepoUpdaterTest.java
+++ b/test/src/org/fdroid/fdroid/updater/SignedRepoUpdaterTest.java
@@ -1,52 +1,65 @@
 
 package org.fdroid.fdroid.updater;
 
+import android.annotation.TargetApi;
 import android.content.Context;
+import android.os.Environment;
 import android.test.InstrumentationTestCase;
+import android.util.Log;
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
 import org.fdroid.fdroid.Utils;
 import org.fdroid.fdroid.data.Repo;
 import org.fdroid.fdroid.updater.RepoUpdater.UpdateException;
 
-import java.io.File;
-import java.io.FileOutputStream;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.io.OutputStream;
+import java.io.*;
 
+@TargetApi(8)
 public class SignedRepoUpdaterTest extends InstrumentationTestCase {
+    private static final String TAG = "SignedRepoUpdaterTest";
 
     private Context context;
     private RepoUpdater repoUpdater;
+    private File testFilesDir;
 
     String simpleIndexPubkey = "308201ee30820157a0030201020204300d845b300d06092a864886f70d01010b0500302a3110300e060355040b1307462d44726f6964311630140603550403130d70616c6174736368696e6b656e301e170d3134303432373030303633315a170d3431303931323030303633315a302a3110300e060355040b1307462d44726f6964311630140603550403130d70616c6174736368696e6b656e30819f300d06092a864886f70d010101050003818d0030818902818100a439472e4b6d01141bfc94ecfe131c7c728fdda670bb14c57ca60bd1c38a8b8bc0879d22a0a2d0bc0d6fdd4cb98d1d607c2caefbe250a0bd0322aedeb365caf9b236992fac13e6675d3184a6c7c6f07f73410209e399a9da8d5d7512bbd870508eebacff8b57c3852457419434d34701ccbf692267cbc3f42f1c5d1e23762d790203010001a321301f301d0603551d0e041604140b1840691dab909746fde4bfe28207d1cae15786300d06092a864886f70d01010b05000381810062424c928ffd1b6fd419b44daafef01ca982e09341f7077fb865905087aeac882534b3bd679b51fdfb98892cef38b63131c567ed26c9d5d9163afc775ac98ad88c405d211d6187bde0b0d236381cc574ba06ef9080721a92ae5a103a7301b2c397eecc141cc850dd3e123813ebc41c59d31ddbcb6e984168280c53272f6a442b";
 
     @Override
     protected void setUp() {
         context = getInstrumentation().getContext();
+        Context target = getInstrumentation().getTargetContext();
+        /* find something that works, many of these often fail on emulators */
+        testFilesDir = context.getFilesDir();
+        if (testFilesDir == null || !testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            testFilesDir = context.getCacheDir();
+        if (testFilesDir == null || !testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            testFilesDir = context.getExternalCacheDir();
+        if (testFilesDir == null || !testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            testFilesDir = context.getExternalFilesDir(null);
+        if (testFilesDir == null || !testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            testFilesDir = target.getFilesDir();
+        if (testFilesDir == null || !testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            testFilesDir = target.getCacheDir();
+        if (testFilesDir == null || !testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            testFilesDir = target.getExternalCacheDir();
+        if (testFilesDir == null || !testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            testFilesDir = target.getExternalFilesDir(null);
+        if (testFilesDir == null || !testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            testFilesDir = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory();
+        Log.i(TAG, "testFilesDir: " + testFilesDir);
         Repo repo = new Repo();
         repo.pubkey = this.simpleIndexPubkey;
         repoUpdater = RepoUpdater.createUpdaterFor(context, repo);
     }
 
-    private InputStream getInputStreamFromAssets(String fileName) {
-        try {
-            return context.getResources().getAssets().open(fileName);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            e.printStackTrace();
-        }
-        return null;
-    }
-
     private File getTestFile(String fileName) {
         File indexFile;
         InputStream input = null;
         OutputStream output = null;
         try {
-            indexFile = File.createTempFile("index-", ".xml",
-                    getInstrumentation().getTargetContext().getCacheDir());
-            input = getInputStreamFromAssets(fileName);
+            indexFile = File.createTempFile(fileName + "-", ".xml", testFilesDir);
+            Log.i(TAG, "getTestFile indexFile " + indexFile);
+            input = context.getResources().getAssets().open(fileName);
             output = new FileOutputStream(indexFile);
             Utils.copy(input, output);
         } catch (IOException e) {
@@ -60,6 +73,8 @@ public class SignedRepoUpdaterTest extends InstrumentationTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testExtractIndexFromJar() {
+        if (!testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            return;
         File simpleIndexXml = getTestFile("simpleIndex.xml");
         File simpleIndexJar = getTestFile("simpleIndex.jar");
         File testFile = null;
@@ -80,6 +95,8 @@ public class SignedRepoUpdaterTest extends InstrumentationTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testExtractIndexFromJarWithoutSignatureJar() {
+        if (!testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            return;
         // this is supposed to fail
         try {
             repoUpdater.getIndexFromFile(getTestFile("simpleIndexWithoutSignature.jar"));
@@ -90,6 +107,8 @@ public class SignedRepoUpdaterTest extends InstrumentationTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testExtractIndexFromJarWithCorruptedManifestJar() {
+        if (!testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            return;
         // this is supposed to fail
         try {
             repoUpdater.getIndexFromFile(getTestFile("simpleIndexWithCorruptedManifest.jar"));
@@ -103,6 +122,8 @@ public class SignedRepoUpdaterTest extends InstrumentationTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testExtractIndexFromJarWithCorruptedSignature() {
+        if (!testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            return;
         // this is supposed to fail
         try {
             repoUpdater.getIndexFromFile(getTestFile("simpleIndexWithCorruptedSignature.jar"));
@@ -116,6 +137,8 @@ public class SignedRepoUpdaterTest extends InstrumentationTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testExtractIndexFromJarWithCorruptedCertificate() {
+        if (!testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            return;
         // this is supposed to fail
         try {
             repoUpdater.getIndexFromFile(getTestFile("simpleIndexWithCorruptedCertificate.jar"));
@@ -129,6 +152,8 @@ public class SignedRepoUpdaterTest extends InstrumentationTestCase {
     }
 
     public void testExtractIndexFromJarWithCorruptedEverything() {
+        if (!testFilesDir.canWrite())
+            return;
         // this is supposed to fail
         try {
             repoUpdater.getIndexFromFile(getTestFile("simpleIndexWithCorruptedEverything.jar"));