diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 1b733ac19..c1f728a72 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -35,16 +35,6 @@
 logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
 
 file_list = []
-directory = None
-
-# finding the root directory of conftest.py and going up to OpenML main directory
-# exploiting the fact that conftest.py always resides in the root directory for tests
-static_dir = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
-logger.info("static directory: {}".format(static_dir))
-while True:
-    if "openml" in os.listdir(static_dir):
-        break
-    static_dir = os.path.join(static_dir, "..")
 
 
 def worker_id() -> str:
@@ -66,12 +56,11 @@ def read_file_list() -> List[str]:
 
     :return: List[str]
     """
-    directory = os.path.join(static_dir, "tests/files/")
-    if worker_id() == "master":
-        logger.info("Collecting file lists from: {}".format(directory))
-    files = os.walk(directory)
+    this_dir = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
+    directory = os.path.join(this_dir, "..")
+    logger.info("Collecting file lists from: {}".format(directory))
     file_list = []
-    for root, _, filenames in files:
+    for root, _, filenames in os.walk(directory):
         for filename in filenames:
             file_list.append(os.path.join(root, filename))
     return file_list