diff --git a/tests/vmcheck/test-basic.sh b/tests/vmcheck/test-basic.sh
index fa410ed441..3a1d0f8737 100755
--- a/tests/vmcheck/test-basic.sh
+++ b/tests/vmcheck/test-basic.sh
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ echo "ok script output prefixed in journal"
 start_http_repo() {
   # CentOS systemd is too old for -p WorkingDirectory
   vm_cmd systemd-run --unit vmcheck-httpd sh -c \
-    'cd /tmp && python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8888'
+    "'cd /tmp && python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8888'"
   cat > vmcheck-http.repo << EOF
 [vmcheck-http]
 name=vmcheck-http