diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/149 b/tests/qemu-iotests/149
index 4f363f295f..9fa97966c5 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/149
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/149
@@ -383,8 +383,7 @@ def test_once(config, qemu_img=False):
 
 
 # Obviously we only work with the luks image format
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['luks'])
-iotests.verify_platform()
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['luks'])
 
 # We need sudo in order to run cryptsetup to create
 # dm-crypt devices. This is safe to use on any
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/194 b/tests/qemu-iotests/194
index d746ab1e21..c8aeb6d0e4 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/194
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/194
@@ -21,8 +21,7 @@
 
 import iotests
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'qed', 'raw'])
-iotests.verify_platform(['linux'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'qed', 'raw'])
 
 with iotests.FilePath('source.img') as source_img_path, \
      iotests.FilePath('dest.img') as dest_img_path, \
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/202 b/tests/qemu-iotests/202
index 581ca34d79..1271ac9459 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/202
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/202
@@ -24,8 +24,7 @@
 
 import iotests
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
-iotests.verify_platform(['linux'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 
 with iotests.FilePath('disk0.img') as disk0_img_path, \
      iotests.FilePath('disk1.img') as disk1_img_path, \
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/203 b/tests/qemu-iotests/203
index 4874a1a0d8..c40fe231ea 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/203
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/203
@@ -24,8 +24,7 @@
 
 import iotests
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
-iotests.verify_platform(['linux'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 
 with iotests.FilePath('disk0.img') as disk0_img_path, \
      iotests.FilePath('disk1.img') as disk1_img_path, \
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/206 b/tests/qemu-iotests/206
index 5bb738bf23..23ff2f624b 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/206
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/206
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import imgfmt
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 
 def blockdev_create(vm, options):
     result = vm.qmp_log('blockdev-create',
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/207 b/tests/qemu-iotests/207
index ec8c1d06f0..ab9e3b6747 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/207
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/207
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import iotests
 import subprocess
 import re
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['raw'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['raw'])
 iotests.verify_protocol(supported=['ssh'])
 
 def filter_hash(qmsg):
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/208 b/tests/qemu-iotests/208
index 1e202388dc..dfce6f9fe4 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/208
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/208
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 
 import iotests
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['generic'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['generic'])
 
 with iotests.FilePath('disk.img') as disk_img_path, \
      iotests.FilePath('disk-snapshot.img') as disk_snapshot_img_path, \
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/209 b/tests/qemu-iotests/209
index 259e991ec6..a77f884166 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/209
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/209
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ import iotests
 from iotests import qemu_img_create, qemu_io, qemu_img_verbose, qemu_nbd, \
                     file_path
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 
 disk, nbd_sock = file_path('disk', 'nbd-sock')
 nbd_uri = 'nbd+unix:///exp?socket=' + nbd_sock
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/210 b/tests/qemu-iotests/210
index 565e3b7b9b..5a7013cd34 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/210
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/210
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import imgfmt
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['luks'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['luks'])
 iotests.verify_protocol(supported=['file'])
 
 def blockdev_create(vm, options):
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/211 b/tests/qemu-iotests/211
index 6afc894f76..4d6aac497f 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/211
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/211
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import imgfmt
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['vdi'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['vdi'])
 iotests.verify_protocol(supported=['file'])
 
 def blockdev_create(vm, options):
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/212 b/tests/qemu-iotests/212
index 42b74f208b..ec35bceb11 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/212
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/212
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import imgfmt
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['parallels'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['parallels'])
 iotests.verify_protocol(supported=['file'])
 
 def blockdev_create(vm, options):
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/213 b/tests/qemu-iotests/213
index 5604f3cebb..3d2c024375 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/213
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/213
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import imgfmt
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['vhdx'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['vhdx'])
 iotests.verify_protocol(supported=['file'])
 
 def blockdev_create(vm, options):
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/216 b/tests/qemu-iotests/216
index 3c0ae54b44..7574bcc09f 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/216
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/216
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@ import iotests
 from iotests import log, qemu_img, qemu_io_silent
 
 # Need backing file support
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'qcow', 'qed', 'vmdk'])
-iotests.verify_platform(['linux'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'qcow', 'qed', 'vmdk'])
 
 log('')
 log('=== Copy-on-read across nodes ===')
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/218 b/tests/qemu-iotests/218
index 2554d84581..e18e31076b 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/218
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/218
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import log, qemu_img, qemu_io_silent
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'raw'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'raw'])
 
 
 # Launches the VM, adds two null-co nodes (source and target), and
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/219 b/tests/qemu-iotests/219
index e0c51662c0..9ae27cb04e 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/219
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/219
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 
 import iotests
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 
 img_size = 4 * 1024 * 1024
 
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/222 b/tests/qemu-iotests/222
index 0ead56d574..6788979ed3 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/222
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/222
@@ -24,9 +24,8 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import log, qemu_img, qemu_io, qemu_io_silent
 
-iotests.verify_platform(['linux'])
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'qcow', 'qed', 'vmdk',
-                                            'vhdx', 'raw'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'qcow', 'qed', 'vmdk',
+                                          'vhdx', 'raw'])
 
 patterns = [("0x5d", "0",         "64k"),
             ("0xd5", "1M",        "64k"),
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/224 b/tests/qemu-iotests/224
index b4dfaa639f..d0d0c44104 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/224
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/224
@@ -26,8 +26,7 @@ from iotests import log, qemu_img, qemu_io_silent, filter_qmp_testfiles, \
 import json
 
 # Need backing file support (for arbitrary backing formats)
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'qcow', 'qed'])
-iotests.verify_platform(['linux'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'qcow', 'qed'])
 
 
 # There are two variations of this test:
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/228 b/tests/qemu-iotests/228
index 9a50afd205..9785868ab3 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/228
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/228
@@ -25,8 +25,7 @@ from iotests import log, qemu_img, filter_testfiles, filter_imgfmt, \
         filter_qmp_testfiles, filter_qmp_imgfmt
 
 # Need backing file and change-backing-file support
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'qed'])
-iotests.verify_platform(['linux'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2', 'qed'])
 
 
 def log_node_info(node):
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/234 b/tests/qemu-iotests/234
index c4c26bc21e..b72142040b 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/234
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/234
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@
 import iotests
 import os
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
-iotests.verify_platform(['linux'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 
 def enable_migration_events(vm, name):
     iotests.log('Enabling migration QMP events on %s...' % name)
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/235 b/tests/qemu-iotests/235
index fedd111fd4..9e88c65b93 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/235
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/235
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ sys.path.append(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '..', '..', 'python'))
 
 from qemu.machine import QEMUMachine
 
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
+
 # Note:
 # This test was added to check that mirror dead-lock was fixed (see previous
 # commit before this test addition).
@@ -40,8 +42,6 @@ from qemu.machine import QEMUMachine
 
 size = 1 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
-
 disk = file_path('disk')
 
 # prepare source image
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/236 b/tests/qemu-iotests/236
index 79a6381f8e..b88779eb0b 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/236
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/236
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import log
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['generic'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['generic'])
 size = 64 * 1024 * 1024
 granularity = 64 * 1024
 
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/237 b/tests/qemu-iotests/237
index 06897f8c87..3758ace0bc 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/237
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/237
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import math
 import iotests
 from iotests import imgfmt
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['vmdk'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['vmdk'])
 
 def blockdev_create(vm, options):
     result = vm.qmp_log('blockdev-create', job_id='job0', options=options,
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/238 b/tests/qemu-iotests/238
index e5ac2b2ff8..6e27fb40c2 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/238
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/238
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ import os
 import iotests
 from iotests import log
 
+iotests.script_initialize()
+
 virtio_scsi_device = iotests.get_virtio_scsi_device()
 
 vm = iotests.VM()
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/242 b/tests/qemu-iotests/242
index c176e92da6..7c2685b4cc 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/242
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/242
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ import struct
 from iotests import qemu_img_create, qemu_io, qemu_img_pipe, \
     file_path, img_info_log, log, filter_qemu_io
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 
 disk = file_path('disk')
 chunk = 256 * 1024
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/246 b/tests/qemu-iotests/246
index b0997a392f..1d7747d62d 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/246
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/246
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import log
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 size = 64 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024
 gran_small = 32 * 1024
 gran_large = 128 * 1024
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/248 b/tests/qemu-iotests/248
index f26b4bb2aa..781b21b227 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/248
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/248
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import qemu_img_create, qemu_io, file_path, filter_qmp_testfiles
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 
 source, target = file_path('source', 'target')
 size = 5 * 1024 * 1024
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/254 b/tests/qemu-iotests/254
index 09584f3f7d..43b40f4f71 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/254
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/254
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import qemu_img_create, file_path, log
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 
 disk, top = file_path('disk', 'top')
 size = 1024 * 1024
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/255 b/tests/qemu-iotests/255
index 3632d507d0..ff16402268 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/255
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/255
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 import iotests
 from iotests import imgfmt
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 
 def blockdev_create(vm, options):
     result = vm.qmp_log('blockdev-create',
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/256 b/tests/qemu-iotests/256
index c594a43205..d2f9212e5a 100755
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/256
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/256
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import os
 import iotests
 from iotests import log
 
-iotests.verify_image_format(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
+iotests.script_initialize(supported_fmts=['qcow2'])
 size = 64 * 1024 * 1024
 
 with iotests.FilePath('img0') as img0_path, \
diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py b/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py
index e6098ff7ef..0229ffee0e 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/iotests.py
@@ -879,7 +879,20 @@ def skip_if_unsupported(required_formats=[], read_only=False):
         return func_wrapper
     return skip_test_decorator
 
-def execute_unittest(output, verbosity, debug):
+def execute_unittest(debug=False):
+    """Executes unittests within the calling module."""
+
+    verbosity = 2 if debug else 1
+
+    if debug:
+        output = sys.stdout
+    elif sys.version_info.major >= 3:
+        output = io.StringIO()
+    else:
+        # io.StringIO is for unicode strings, which is not what
+        # 2.x's test runner emits.
+        output = io.BytesIO()
+
     runner = unittest.TextTestRunner(stream=output, descriptions=True,
                                      verbosity=verbosity)
     try:
@@ -887,14 +900,19 @@ def execute_unittest(output, verbosity, debug):
         # exception
         unittest.main(testRunner=runner)
     finally:
+        # We need to filter out the time taken from the output so that
+        # qemu-iotest can reliably diff the results against master output.
         if not debug:
             sys.stderr.write(re.sub(r'Ran (\d+) tests? in [\d.]+s',
                                     r'Ran \1 tests', output.getvalue()))
 
-def execute_test(test_function=None,
-                 supported_fmts=[], supported_oses=['linux'],
-                 supported_cache_modes=[], unsupported_fmts=[]):
-    """Run either unittest or script-style tests."""
+def execute_setup_common(supported_fmts=[],
+                         supported_oses=['linux'],
+                         supported_cache_modes=[],
+                         unsupported_fmts=[]):
+    """
+    Perform necessary setup for either script-style or unittest-style tests.
+    """
 
     # We are using TEST_DIR and QEMU_DEFAULT_MACHINE as proxies to
     # indicate that we're not being run via "check". There may be
@@ -904,37 +922,37 @@ def execute_test(test_function=None,
         sys.stderr.write('Please run this test via the "check" script\n')
         sys.exit(os.EX_USAGE)
 
-    debug = '-d' in sys.argv
-    verbosity = 1
     verify_image_format(supported_fmts, unsupported_fmts)
     verify_platform(supported_oses)
     verify_cache_mode(supported_cache_modes)
 
+    debug = '-d' in sys.argv
     if debug:
-        output = sys.stdout
-        verbosity = 2
         sys.argv.remove('-d')
-    else:
-        # We need to filter out the time taken from the output so that
-        # qemu-iotest can reliably diff the results against master output.
-        if sys.version_info.major >= 3:
-            output = io.StringIO()
-        else:
-            # io.StringIO is for unicode strings, which is not what
-            # 2.x's test runner emits.
-            output = io.BytesIO()
-
     logging.basicConfig(level=(logging.DEBUG if debug else logging.WARN))
 
+    return debug
+
+def execute_test(test_function=None, *args, **kwargs):
+    """Run either unittest or script-style tests."""
+
+    debug = execute_setup_common(*args, **kwargs)
     if not test_function:
-        execute_unittest(output, verbosity, debug)
+        execute_unittest(debug)
     else:
         test_function()
 
+# This is called from script-style iotests without a single point of entry
+def script_initialize(*args, **kwargs):
+    """Initialize script-style tests without running any tests."""
+    execute_setup_common(*args, **kwargs)
+
+# This is called from script-style iotests with a single point of entry
 def script_main(test_function, *args, **kwargs):
     """Run script-style tests outside of the unittest framework"""
     execute_test(test_function, *args, **kwargs)
 
+# This is called from unittest style iotests
 def main(*args, **kwargs):
     """Run tests using the unittest framework"""
     execute_test(None, *args, **kwargs)
