diff --git a/src/crate/testing/layer.py b/src/crate/testing/layer.py
index 3bbe08876..ca8213831 100644
--- a/src/crate/testing/layer.py
+++ b/src/crate/testing/layer.py
@@ -223,6 +223,7 @@ def __init__(self,
         self.env = env or {}
         self.env.setdefault('CRATE_USE_IPV4', 'true')
         if sys.platform == 'win32':
+            self.env.setdefault('_JAVA_OPTIONS', '-Djava.awt.headless=true')
             self.env.setdefault('_JAVA_OPTIONS', '-Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true')
         self.env.setdefault('JAVA_HOME', os.environ.get('JAVA_HOME', ''))
         self._stdout_consumers = []