diff --git a/packages/pnpm/package.json b/packages/pnpm/package.json
index c05a455301..d31a960475 100644
--- a/packages/pnpm/package.json
+++ b/packages/pnpm/package.json
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@
     "lint": "tslint -c tslint.json src/**/*.ts test/**/*.ts",
     "registry-mock": "registry-mock",
     "test:tap": "ts-node test --type-check",
-    "pretest:e2e": "rimraf ../../../.tmp/ && rimraf node_modules/.bin/pnpm && registry-mock prepare",
+    "pretest:e2e": "rimraf node_modules/.bin/pnpm && registry-mock prepare",
     "test:e2e": "cross-env PNPM_REGISTRY_MOCK_PORT=7772 run-p -r registry-mock test:tap",
     "test": "npm run lint && npm run tsc && npm run test:e2e",
     "tsc": "rimraf lib && tsc",
diff --git a/packages/supi/package.json b/packages/supi/package.json
index 0f87a07c2e..3bc81b45e7 100644
--- a/packages/supi/package.json
+++ b/packages/supi/package.json
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@
     "registry-mock": "registry-mock",
     "test:tap": "ts-node test",
     "test:e2e": "run-p -r registry-mock test:tap",
-    "pretest": "rimraf ../../../.tmp/ && registry-mock prepare",
+    "pretest": "registry-mock prepare",
     "test-with-preview": "pnpm run lint && preview && pnpm run test:e2e",
     "test": "pnpm run lint && pnpm run tsc && pnpm run test:e2e",
     "tsc": "rimraf lib && tsc",
diff --git a/pnpm-lock.yaml b/pnpm-lock.yaml
index bc4d68442a..5ca56b129f 100644
--- a/pnpm-lock.yaml
+++ b/pnpm-lock.yaml
@@ -1936,6 +1936,7 @@ importers:
       '@types/mkdirp': 0.5.2
       make-dir: 3.0.0
       tape: 4.11.0
+      tempy: 0.3.0
       write-json5-file: 2.1.2
       write-pkg: 4.0.0
       write-yaml-file: 3.0.1
@@ -1950,6 +1951,7 @@ importers:
       make-dir: 3.0.0
       rimraf: 3.0.0
       tape: 4.11.0
+      tempy: 0.3.0
       tslint-config-standard: 9.0.0
       tslint-eslint-rules: 5.4.0
       write-json5-file: 2.1.2
@@ -9764,7 +9766,6 @@ packages:
     resolution:
       integrity: sha512-G3I7QWUBSNWaekrJcDabydF6dcvy+vZ2PrX04JYq1p914TOLgpN+ryMtheGavs1LYVevTbTmwjQY8aeX8yLsyA==
   /temp-dir/1.0.0:
-    dev: true
     engines:
       node: '>=4'
     resolution:
@@ -9774,7 +9775,6 @@ packages:
       temp-dir: 1.0.0
       type-fest: 0.3.1
       unique-string: 1.0.0
-    dev: true
     engines:
       node: '>=8'
     resolution:
diff --git a/privatePackages/prepare/package.json b/privatePackages/prepare/package.json
index c094cbfb9c..edad6cb781 100644
--- a/privatePackages/prepare/package.json
+++ b/privatePackages/prepare/package.json
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
     "@types/mkdirp": "0.5.2",
     "make-dir": "3.0.0",
     "tape": "4.11.0",
+    "tempy": "0.3.0",
     "write-json5-file": "2.1.2",
     "write-pkg": "4.0.0",
     "write-yaml-file": "3.0.1"
diff --git a/privatePackages/prepare/src/index.ts b/privatePackages/prepare/src/index.ts
index 5c8c17b4d0..928959d53a 100644
--- a/privatePackages/prepare/src/index.ts
+++ b/privatePackages/prepare/src/index.ts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import { ImporterManifest } from '@pnpm/types'
 import makeDir = require('make-dir')
 import path = require('path')
 import { Test } from 'tape'
+import tempy = require('tempy')
 import { sync as writeJson5File } from 'write-json5-file'
 import writePkg = require('write-pkg')
 import { sync as writeYamlFile } from 'write-yaml-file'
@@ -11,8 +12,7 @@ export { Modules, Project }
 export type ManifestFormat = 'JSON' | 'JSON5' | 'YAML'
 
 // the testing folder should be outside of the project to avoid lookup in the project's node_modules
-const tmpPath = path.join(__dirname, '..', '..', '..', '..', '.tmp')
-makeDir.sync(tmpPath)
+const tmpPath = tempy.directory()
 
 let dirNumber = 0
 
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ export function tempDir (t: Test) {
   const tmpDir = path.join(tmpPath, dirname)
   makeDir.sync(tmpDir)
 
-  t.pass(`create testing dir ${dirname}`)
+  t.pass(`create testing dir ${path.join(tmpDir)}`)
 
   process.chdir(tmpDir)