diff --git a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveExternalCatalogVersionsSuite.scala b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveExternalCatalogVersionsSuite.scala
index 5103aa8a207d..25df3339e62f 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveExternalCatalogVersionsSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveExternalCatalogVersionsSuite.scala
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ class HiveExternalCatalogVersionsSuite extends SparkSubmitTestUtils {
         "--conf", s"spark.sql.test.version.index=$index",
         "--driver-java-options", s"-Dderby.system.home=${wareHousePath.getCanonicalPath}",
         tempPyFile.getCanonicalPath)
-      runSparkSubmit(args, Some(sparkHome.getCanonicalPath))
+      runSparkSubmit(args, Some(sparkHome.getCanonicalPath), false)
     }
 
     tempPyFile.delete()
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/SparkSubmitTestUtils.scala b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/SparkSubmitTestUtils.scala
index 68ed97d6d1f5..889f81b05639 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/SparkSubmitTestUtils.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/SparkSubmitTestUtils.scala
@@ -38,7 +38,10 @@ trait SparkSubmitTestUtils extends SparkFunSuite with TimeLimits {
 
   // NOTE: This is an expensive operation in terms of time (10 seconds+). Use sparingly.
   // This is copied from org.apache.spark.deploy.SparkSubmitSuite
-  protected def runSparkSubmit(args: Seq[String], sparkHomeOpt: Option[String] = None): Unit = {
+  protected def runSparkSubmit(
+      args: Seq[String],
+      sparkHomeOpt: Option[String] = None,
+      isSparkTesting: Boolean = true): Unit = {
     val sparkHome = sparkHomeOpt.getOrElse(
       sys.props.getOrElse("spark.test.home", fail("spark.test.home is not set!")))
     val history = ArrayBuffer.empty[String]
@@ -53,7 +56,14 @@ trait SparkSubmitTestUtils extends SparkFunSuite with TimeLimits {
 
     val builder = new ProcessBuilder(commands: _*).directory(new File(sparkHome))
     val env = builder.environment()
-    env.put("SPARK_TESTING", "1")
+    if (isSparkTesting) {
+      env.put("SPARK_TESTING", "1")
+    } else {
+      env.remove("SPARK_TESTING")
+      env.remove("SPARK_SQL_TESTING")
+      env.remove("SPARK_PREPEND_CLASSES")
+      env.remove("SPARK_DIST_CLASSPATH")
+    }
     env.put("SPARK_HOME", sparkHome)
 
     def captureOutput(source: String)(line: String): Unit = {