diff --git a/development/autotests/first-time-in.txt b/development/autotests/first-time-in.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e5403854f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/development/autotests/first-time-in.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Lang en_US.utf8
+TestBegin test.lyx > lyx-log.txt 2>&1
+KK: \[Left]\[Return]
+TestEnd
diff --git a/development/autotests/keytest.py b/development/autotests/keytest.py
index ca475d756d..bb715ff0a7 100755
--- a/development/autotests/keytest.py
+++ b/development/autotests/keytest.py
@@ -234,6 +234,7 @@ outfilename = os.environ.get('KEYTEST_OUTFILE')
 max_drop = os.environ.get('MAX_DROP')
 lyx_window_name = os.environ.get('LYX_WINDOW_NAME')
 screenshot_out = os.environ.get('SCREENSHOT_OUT')
+lyx_userdir = os.environ.get('LYX_USERDIR')
 
 max_loops = os.environ.get('MAX_LOOPS')
 if max_loops is None:
@@ -299,10 +300,13 @@ while not failed:
             os.system("killall lyx")
         time.sleep(0.2)
         print "Starting LyX . . ."
-        os.system(lyx_exe + c[9:] + "&")
+        if lyx_userdir is None:
+            os.system(lyx_exe + c[9:] + "&")
+        else:
+            os.system(lyx_exe + " -userdir " + lyx_userdir + " " + c[9:] + "&")
         while True:
             lyx_pid=os.popen("pidof lyx").read().rstrip()
-            lyx_window_name=os.popen("wmctrl -l | grep 'lyx$\\|LyX:' | sed -e 's/.*\\([Ll]y[Xx].*\\)$/\\1/'").read().rstrip()
+            lyx_window_name=os.popen("wmctrl -l -p | grep ' " + str(lyx_pid) +  " ' | cut -d ' ' -f 1").read().rstrip()
             if lyx_window_name != "":
                 break
             print 'lyx_win: ' + lyx_window_name + '\n'
diff --git a/development/autotests/run-tests.sh b/development/autotests/run-tests.sh
index ba4067d1f7..766f4c1a70 100755
--- a/development/autotests/run-tests.sh
+++ b/development/autotests/run-tests.sh
@@ -6,21 +6,38 @@
 
 export LYX_EXE=../../../src/lyx
 export KEYTEST=../keytest.py
+export LYX_USERDIR=$(pwd)/home/.lyx
 
 if [ "$#" -eq 0 ]; then
-    TESTS=$(ls *-in.txt);
+    TESTS=$(ls *-in.txt | sed -e 's/hello-world-in.txt\|first-time-in.txt//');
 else
     TESTS=$*
 fi
 
 echo
+
+if [ ! -d home ]; then
+    mkdir home
+    cd home
+    echo "Initializing testing environment . . ."
+    if ! ../single-test.sh "../first-time-in.txt" > keytest-log.txt 2>&1; then
+	echo "Some error occurred: check $(pwd)"
+	exit -1;
+    fi
+    cd ..
+fi
+
 echo "Running test cases . . ."
 failed=0
 for t in $(echo "$TESTS" | sed -e 's/-in.txt//g'); do
+    printf "%40s: " $t
+    if [ ! -f "$t-in.txt" ]; then
+	echo "ERROR: File not found: $t-in.txt"
+	exit -1;
+    fi
     rm -rf "out-$t"
     mkdir "out-$t"
     cd "out-$t"
-    printf "%40s: " $t
     if ../single-test.sh "../$t-in.txt" > keytest-log.txt 2>&1; then
 	echo Ok
 	cd ..