diff --git a/Source/CTest/cmCTestStartCommand.cxx b/Source/CTest/cmCTestStartCommand.cxx
index 0a4ef09268..e2b897e3ec 100644
--- a/Source/CTest/cmCTestStartCommand.cxx
+++ b/Source/CTest/cmCTestStartCommand.cxx
@@ -139,7 +139,6 @@ bool cmCTestStartCommand::InitialPass(std::vector<std::string> const& args,
     return false;
   }
 
-  this->CTest->SetSuppressUpdatingCTestConfiguration(true);
   int model;
   if (smodel) {
     model = cmCTest::GetTestModelFromString(smodel);
@@ -183,7 +182,6 @@ bool cmCTestStartCommand::InitialPass(std::vector<std::string> const& args,
     &mf, "BuildName", "CTEST_BUILD_NAME", quiet);
 
   this->CTest->Initialize(bld_dir);
-  this->CTest->UpdateCTestConfiguration();
 
   cmCTestOptionalLog(
     this->CTest, OUTPUT,
diff --git a/Source/cmCTest.cxx b/Source/cmCTest.cxx
index 75ddcc9503..8f691bf196 100644
--- a/Source/cmCTest.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmCTest.cxx
@@ -173,8 +173,6 @@ struct cmCTest::Private
   bool CompressXMLFiles = false;
   bool CompressTestOutput = true;
 
-  bool SuppressUpdatingCTestConfiguration = false;
-
   bool Debug = false;
   bool Quiet = false;
 
@@ -529,9 +527,6 @@ bool cmCTest::ReadExistingTag(bool quiet)
 
 bool cmCTest::UpdateCTestConfiguration()
 {
-  if (this->Impl->SuppressUpdatingCTestConfiguration) {
-    return true;
-  }
   std::string fileName = this->Impl->BinaryDir + "/CTestConfiguration.ini";
   if (!cmSystemTools::FileExists(fileName)) {
     fileName = this->Impl->BinaryDir + "/DartConfiguration.tcl";
@@ -716,20 +711,9 @@ int cmCTest::ProcessSteps()
   this->Impl->Verbose = true;
   this->Impl->ProduceXML = true;
 
-  std::string const currDir = cmSystemTools::GetLogicalWorkingDirectory();
-  std::string workDir = currDir;
-  if (!this->Impl->TestDir.empty()) {
-    workDir = cmSystemTools::ToNormalizedPathOnDisk(this->Impl->TestDir);
-  }
+  // Minimal dashboard client script configuration.
+  this->SetCTestConfiguration("BuildDirectory", this->Impl->BinaryDir);
 
-  cmWorkingDirectory changeDir(workDir);
-  if (changeDir.Failed()) {
-    cmCTestLog(this, ERROR_MESSAGE, changeDir.GetError() << std::endl);
-    return 1;
-  }
-
-  this->Impl->BinaryDir = workDir;
-  cmSystemTools::ConvertToUnixSlashes(this->Impl->BinaryDir);
   this->UpdateCTestConfiguration();
   this->BlockTestErrorDiagnostics();
 
@@ -2648,6 +2632,19 @@ int cmCTest::Run(std::vector<std::string> const& args)
     return this->RunScripts(runScripts);
   }
 
+  // Establish the working directory.
+  std::string const currDir = cmSystemTools::GetLogicalWorkingDirectory();
+  std::string workDir = currDir;
+  if (!this->Impl->TestDir.empty()) {
+    workDir = cmSystemTools::ToNormalizedPathOnDisk(this->Impl->TestDir);
+  }
+  cmWorkingDirectory changeDir(workDir);
+  if (changeDir.Failed()) {
+    cmCTestLog(this, ERROR_MESSAGE, changeDir.GetError() << std::endl);
+    return 1;
+  }
+  this->Impl->BinaryDir = workDir;
+
   // -D, -T, and/or -M was specified
   if (processSteps) {
     return this->ProcessSteps();
@@ -2682,18 +2679,6 @@ int cmCTest::ExecuteTests(std::vector<std::string> const& args)
   this->Impl->ExtraVerbose = this->Impl->Verbose;
   this->Impl->Verbose = true;
 
-  std::string const currDir = cmSystemTools::GetLogicalWorkingDirectory();
-  std::string workDir = currDir;
-  if (!this->Impl->TestDir.empty()) {
-    workDir = cmSystemTools::ToNormalizedPathOnDisk(this->Impl->TestDir);
-  }
-
-  cmWorkingDirectory changeDir(workDir);
-  if (changeDir.Failed()) {
-    cmCTestLog(this, ERROR_MESSAGE, changeDir.GetError() << std::endl);
-    return 1;
-  }
-
   cmCTestLog(this, DEBUG, "Here: " << __LINE__ << std::endl);
   if (!this->Impl->InteractiveDebugMode) {
     this->BlockTestErrorDiagnostics();
@@ -2701,9 +2686,6 @@ int cmCTest::ExecuteTests(std::vector<std::string> const& args)
     cmSystemTools::PutEnv("CTEST_INTERACTIVE_DEBUG_MODE=1");
   }
 
-  this->Impl->BinaryDir = workDir;
-  cmSystemTools::ConvertToUnixSlashes(this->Impl->BinaryDir);
-
   this->UpdateCTestConfiguration();
 
   cmCTestLog(this, DEBUG, "Here: " << __LINE__ << std::endl);
@@ -3187,11 +3169,6 @@ void cmCTest::ClearSubmitFiles(Part part)
   this->Impl->Parts[part].SubmitFiles.clear();
 }
 
-void cmCTest::SetSuppressUpdatingCTestConfiguration(bool val)
-{
-  this->Impl->SuppressUpdatingCTestConfiguration = val;
-}
-
 void cmCTest::AddCTestConfigurationOverwrite(std::string const& overStr)
 {
   size_t epos = overStr.find('=');
diff --git a/Source/cmCTest.h b/Source/cmCTest.h
index 339c7e2cfa..53e9b0eff4 100644
--- a/Source/cmCTest.h
+++ b/Source/cmCTest.h
@@ -298,12 +298,6 @@ public:
   /** Decode a URL to the original string.  */
   static std::string DecodeURL(std::string const&);
 
-  /**
-   * Should ctect configuration be updated. When using new style ctest
-   * script, this should be true.
-   */
-  void SetSuppressUpdatingCTestConfiguration(bool val);
-
   /**
    * Add overwrite to ctest configuration.
    *
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirCoverage-ctest-result.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirCoverage-ctest-result.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index f5c89552bd..0000000000
--- a/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirCoverage-ctest-result.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-32
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirCoverage-ctest-stderr.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirCoverage-ctest-stderr.txt
index f6d28a17f3..45230f79a6 100644
--- a/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirCoverage-ctest-stderr.txt
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirCoverage-ctest-stderr.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 Cannot find file: [^
 ]*/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirCoverage-ctest-build/DartConfiguration.tcl
-CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY not set
+ Cannot find any coverage files\. Ignoring Coverage request\.$
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirTest-ctest-stderr.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirTest-ctest-stderr.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d9c2ecbc13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirTest-ctest-stderr.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Cannot find file: [^
+]*/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/EmptyDirTest-ctest-build/DartConfiguration.tcl
+No tests were found!!!$
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/RunCMakeTest.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/RunCMakeTest.cmake
index 0786499318..31f3b72c05 100644
--- a/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/RunCMakeTest.cmake
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/CTestCommandLine/RunCMakeTest.cmake
@@ -554,6 +554,10 @@ set(ENV{CMAKE_TLS_VERIFY} 0) # Test fallback to env variable.
 run_FailDrop(TLSVerify-OFF-env)
 unset(ENV{CMAKE_TLS_VERIFY})
 
+run_cmake_command(EmptyDirTest-ctest
+  ${CMAKE_CTEST_COMMAND} -C Debug -M Experimental -T Test
+  )
+
 run_cmake_command(EmptyDirCoverage-ctest
   ${CMAKE_CTEST_COMMAND} -C Debug -M Experimental -T Coverage
   )