diff --git a/Lib/test/test_embed.py b/Lib/test/test_embed.py
index f5adcdffe4668e..647ce6879687f5 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_embed.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_embed.py
@@ -78,7 +78,10 @@ def setUp(self):
         # "Py_Initialize: Unable to get the locale encoding
         # LookupError: no codec search functions registered: can't find encoding"
         self.oldcwd = os.getcwd()
-        os.chdir(builddir)
+        if MS_WINDOWS:
+            os.chdir(support.REPO_ROOT)
+        else:
+            os.chdir(builddir)
 
     def tearDown(self):
         os.chdir(self.oldcwd)