diff --git a/tests/runtests.pl b/tests/runtests.pl
index 92b2bc3512..0deda7dc6e 100755
--- a/tests/runtests.pl
+++ b/tests/runtests.pl
@@ -364,7 +364,7 @@ if (!$ENV{"NGHTTPX"}) {
     $ENV{"NGHTTPX"} = checktestcmd("nghttpx");
 }
 if ($ENV{"NGHTTPX"}) {
-    my $nghttpx_version=join(' ', runclientoutput("$ENV{'NGHTTPX'} -v"));
+    my $nghttpx_version=join(' ', `"$ENV{'NGHTTPX'} -v 2>/dev/null"`);
     $nghttpx_h3 = $nghttpx_version =~ /nghttp3\//;
     chomp $nghttpx_h3;
 }