diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 3a8f36e95f8..74483452cf2 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ env:
     - TESTENV=py35-trial
     - TESTENV=py27-nobyte
     - TESTENV=doctesting
-    - TESTENV=py27-cxfreeze
+    - TESTENV=freeze
 
 script: tox --recreate -e $TESTENV
 
diff --git a/_pytest/genscript.py b/_pytest/genscript.py
index d2962d8fc82..f070d88162c 100755
--- a/_pytest/genscript.py
+++ b/_pytest/genscript.py
@@ -100,7 +100,8 @@ def pytest_namespace():
 def freeze_includes():
     """
     Returns a list of module names used by py.test that should be
-    included by cx_freeze.
+    included by cx_freeze/pyinstaller to generate a standalone
+    pytest executable.
     """
     result = list(_iter_all_modules(py))
     result += list(_iter_all_modules(_pytest))
diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index 2bd72db451b..9c28366a0d9 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ environment:
   # builds timing out in AppVeyor
   - TOXENV: "linting,py26,py27,py33,py34,py35,pypy"
   - TOXENV: "py27-pexpect,py27-xdist,py27-trial,py35-pexpect,py35-xdist,py35-trial"
-  - TOXENV: "py27-nobyte,doctesting,py27-cxfreeze"
+  - TOXENV: "py27-nobyte,doctesting,freeze"
 
 install:
   - echo Installed Pythons
diff --git a/doc/en/example/simple.rst b/doc/en/example/simple.rst
index 1007ee1e1c5..5275c52c87d 100644
--- a/doc/en/example/simple.rst
+++ b/doc/en/example/simple.rst
@@ -699,40 +699,29 @@ and run it::
 You'll see that the fixture finalizers could use the precise reporting
 information.
 
-Integrating pytest runner and cx_freeze
------------------------------------------------------------
+Freezing pytest 
+---------------
 
 If you freeze your application using a tool like
-`cx_freeze <https://cx-freeze.readthedocs.io>`_ in order to distribute it
-to your end-users, it is a good idea to also package your test runner and run
-your tests using the frozen application.
-
-This way packaging errors such as dependencies not being
-included into the executable can be detected early while also allowing you to
-send test files to users so they can run them in their machines, which can be
-invaluable to obtain more information about a hard to reproduce bug.
-
-Unfortunately ``cx_freeze`` can't discover them
-automatically because of ``pytest``'s use of dynamic module loading, so you
-must declare them explicitly by using ``pytest.freeze_includes()``::
-
-    # contents of setup.py
-    from cx_Freeze import setup, Executable
-    import pytest
-
-    setup(
-        name="app_main",
-        executables=[Executable("app_main.py")],
-        options={"build_exe":
-            {
-            'includes': pytest.freeze_includes()}
-            },
-        # ... other options
-    )
-
-If you don't want to ship a different executable just in order to run your tests,
-you can make your program check for a certain flag and pass control
-over to ``pytest`` instead. For example::
+`PyInstaller <https://pyinstaller.readthedocs.io>`_
+in order to distribute it to your end-users, it is a good idea to also package
+your test runner and run your tests using the frozen application. This way packaging
+errors such as dependencies not being included into the executable can be detected early
+while also allowing you to send test files to users so they can run them in their
+machines, which can be useful to obtain more information about a hard to reproduce bug.
+
+Fortunately recent ``PyInstaller`` releases already have a custom hook
+for pytest, but if you are using another tool to freeze executables 
+such as ``cx_freeze`` or ``py2exe``, you can use ``pytest.freeze_includes()``
+to obtain the full list of internal pytest modules. How to configure the tools
+to find the internal modules varies from tool to tool, however.
+
+Instead of freezing the pytest runner as a separate executable, you can make 
+your frozen program work as the pytest runner by some clever
+argument handling during program startup. This allows you to 
+have a single executable, which is usually more convenient.
+
+.. code-block:: python
 
     # contents of app_main.py
     import sys
@@ -745,7 +734,7 @@ over to ``pytest`` instead. For example::
         # by your argument-parsing library of choice as usual
         ...
 
-This makes it convenient to execute your tests from within your frozen
-application, using standard ``py.test`` command-line options::
+This allows you to execute tests using the frozen
+application with standard ``py.test`` command-line options::
 
     ./app_main --pytest --verbose --tb=long --junitxml=results.xml test-suite/
diff --git a/testing/cx_freeze/install_cx_freeze.py b/testing/cx_freeze/install_cx_freeze.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 83dce87aa56..00000000000
--- a/testing/cx_freeze/install_cx_freeze.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,64 +0,0 @@
-"""
-Installs cx_freeze from source, but first patching
-setup.py as described here:
-
-http://stackoverflow.com/questions/25107697/compiling-cx-freeze-under-ubuntu
-"""
-import glob
-import tarfile
-import os
-import sys
-import platform
-import py
-
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-    if 'ubuntu' not in platform.version().lower():
-
-        print('Not Ubuntu, installing using pip. (platform.version() is %r)' %
-              platform.version())
-        res = os.system('pip install cx_freeze')
-        if res != 0:
-            sys.exit(res)
-        sys.exit(0)
-
-    rootdir = py.path.local.make_numbered_dir(prefix='cx_freeze')
-
-    res = os.system('pip install --download %s --no-use-wheel '
-                    'cx_freeze' % rootdir)
-    if res != 0:
-        sys.exit(res)
-
-    packages = glob.glob('%s/*.tar.gz' % rootdir)
-    assert len(packages) == 1
-    tar_filename = packages[0]
-
-    tar_file = tarfile.open(tar_filename)
-    try:
-        tar_file.extractall(path=str(rootdir))
-    finally:
-        tar_file.close()
-
-    basename = os.path.basename(tar_filename).replace('.tar.gz', '')
-    setup_py_filename = '%s/%s/setup.py' % (rootdir, basename)
-    with open(setup_py_filename) as f:
-        lines = f.readlines()
-
-    line_to_patch = 'if not vars.get("Py_ENABLE_SHARED", 0):'
-    for index, line in enumerate(lines):
-        if line_to_patch in line:
-            indent = line[:line.index(line_to_patch)]
-            lines[index] = indent + 'if True:\n'
-            print('Patched line %d' % (index + 1))
-            break
-    else:
-        sys.exit('Could not find line in setup.py to patch!')
-
-    with open(setup_py_filename, 'w') as f:
-        f.writelines(lines)
-
-    os.chdir('%s/%s' % (rootdir, basename))
-    res = os.system('python setup.py install')
-    if res != 0:
-        sys.exit(res)
-
-    sys.exit(0)
diff --git a/testing/cx_freeze/runtests_setup.py b/testing/cx_freeze/runtests_setup.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 01e8a8a8929..00000000000
--- a/testing/cx_freeze/runtests_setup.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-"""
-Sample setup.py script that generates an executable with pytest runner embedded.
-"""
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-    from cx_Freeze import setup, Executable
-    import pytest
-
-    setup(
-        name="runtests",
-        version="0.1",
-        description="example of how embedding py.test into an executable using cx_freeze",
-        executables=[Executable("runtests_script.py")],
-        options={"build_exe": {'includes': pytest.freeze_includes()}},
-    )
-
diff --git a/testing/freeze/.gitignore b/testing/freeze/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..490310b6c11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/freeze/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+build/
+dist/
+*.spec
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/testing/freeze/create_executable.py b/testing/freeze/create_executable.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8cf259c4024
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testing/freeze/create_executable.py
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+"""
+Generates an executable with pytest runner embedded using PyInstaller.
+"""
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    import pytest
+    import subprocess
+
+    hidden = []
+    for x in pytest.freeze_includes():
+        hidden.extend(['--hidden-import', x])
+    args = ['pyinstaller', '--noconfirm'] + hidden + ['runtests_script.py']
+    subprocess.check_call(' '.join(args), shell=True)
+
diff --git a/testing/cx_freeze/runtests_script.py b/testing/freeze/runtests_script.py
similarity index 95%
rename from testing/cx_freeze/runtests_script.py
rename to testing/freeze/runtests_script.py
index f2b032d7655..cb961fc6caf 100644
--- a/testing/cx_freeze/runtests_script.py
+++ b/testing/freeze/runtests_script.py
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-"""
-This is the script that is actually frozen into an executable: simply executes
-py.test main().
-"""
-
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-    import sys
-    import pytest
+"""
+This is the script that is actually frozen into an executable: simply executes
+py.test main().
+"""
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    import sys
+    import pytest
     sys.exit(pytest.main())
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/testing/cx_freeze/tests/test_doctest.txt b/testing/freeze/tests/test_doctest.txt
similarity index 100%
rename from testing/cx_freeze/tests/test_doctest.txt
rename to testing/freeze/tests/test_doctest.txt
diff --git a/testing/cx_freeze/tests/test_trivial.py b/testing/freeze/tests/test_trivial.py
similarity index 95%
rename from testing/cx_freeze/tests/test_trivial.py
rename to testing/freeze/tests/test_trivial.py
index d8a572baaed..6cf6b05adb2 100644
--- a/testing/cx_freeze/tests/test_trivial.py
+++ b/testing/freeze/tests/test_trivial.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
-
-def test_upper():
-    assert 'foo'.upper() == 'FOO'
-
-def test_lower():
+
+def test_upper():
+    assert 'foo'.upper() == 'FOO'
+
+def test_lower():
     assert 'FOO'.lower() == 'foo'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/testing/cx_freeze/tox_run.py b/testing/freeze/tox_run.py
similarity index 56%
rename from testing/cx_freeze/tox_run.py
rename to testing/freeze/tox_run.py
index e8df2684bb1..5310ac1b722 100644
--- a/testing/cx_freeze/tox_run.py
+++ b/testing/freeze/tox_run.py
@@ -1,15 +1,12 @@
-"""
-Called by tox.ini: uses the generated executable to run the tests in ./tests/
-directory.
-
-.. note:: somehow calling "build/runtests_script" directly from tox doesn't
-          seem to work (at least on Windows).
-"""
-if __name__ == '__main__':
-    import os
-    import sys
-
-    executable = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'build', 'runtests_script')
-    if sys.platform.startswith('win'):
-        executable += '.exe'
+"""
+Called by tox.ini: uses the generated executable to run the tests in ./tests/
+directory.
+"""
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    import os
+    import sys
+
+    executable = os.path.join(os.getcwd(), 'dist', 'runtests_script', 'runtests_script')
+    if sys.platform.startswith('win'):
+        executable += '.exe'
     sys.exit(os.system('%s tests' % executable))
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 5fa9ef21e6e..b16a06887cb 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ distshare={homedir}/.tox/distshare
 envlist=
      linting,py26,py27,py33,py34,py35,pypy,
      {py27,py35}-{pexpect,xdist,trial},
-     py27-nobyte,doctesting,py27-cxfreeze
+     py27-nobyte,doctesting,freeze
 
 [testenv]
 commands= py.test --lsof -rfsxX {posargs:testing}
@@ -124,12 +124,11 @@ changedir=testing
 commands=
     {envpython} {envbindir}/py.test-jython -rfsxX {posargs}
 
-[testenv:py27-cxfreeze]
-changedir=testing/cx_freeze
-platform=linux|darwin
+[testenv:freeze]
+changedir=testing/freeze
+deps=pyinstaller
 commands=
-    {envpython} install_cx_freeze.py
-    {envpython} runtests_setup.py build --build-exe build
+    {envpython} create_executable.py
     {envpython} tox_run.py