diff --git a/qubes/app.py b/qubes/app.py
index 2a00355b7..ec2fb0e86 100644
--- a/qubes/app.py
+++ b/qubes/app.py
@@ -1593,3 +1593,14 @@ def on_property_set_default_dispvm(self, event, name, newvalue,
                 # resetting dispvm to its default value
                 vm.fire_event('property-reset:default_dispvm',
                               name='default_dispvm', oldvalue=oldvalue)
+
+    # Allow long function name over 30 characters
+    # Pylint: disable=C0103
+    @qubes.events.handler('property-pre-set:default_kernel')
+    def on_property_pre_set_default_kernel(self, event, name, newvalue,
+                                           oldvalue=None):
+        # pylint: disable=unused-argument
+        kernels = [kernel.vid for kernel in self.pools['linux-kernel'].volumes]
+        if not newvalue in kernels:
+            raise qubes.exc.QubesException(
+                    'Invalid kernel: {} !'.format(newvalue))
diff --git a/run-tests b/run-tests
index b0928686b..b084af92e 100755
--- a/run-tests
+++ b/run-tests
@@ -19,6 +19,12 @@ if sudo --non-interactive "$name/ci/lvm-manage" setup-lvm vg$$/pool; then
     CLEANUP_LVM=yes
 fi
 
+CLEANUP_KERNEL_POOL=
+if [ ! -d "/var/lib/qubes/vm-kernels" ]; then
+    mkdir --parents /var/lib/qubes/vm-kernels/dummy
+    CLEANUP_KERNEL_POOL=yes
+fi
+
 : "${PYTHON:=python3}"
 : "${TESTPYTHONPATH:=test-packages}"
 
@@ -32,6 +38,9 @@ export PYTHONPATH
 "${PYTHON}" setup.py egg_info --egg-base "${TESTPYTHONPATH}"
 "${PYTHON}" -m coverage run --rcfile=ci/coveragerc -m qubes.tests.run "$@"
 retcode=$?
+if [ -n "$CLEANUP_KERNEL_POOL" ]; then
+    rmdir /var/lib/qubes/vm-kernels/dummy
+fi
 if [ -n "$CLEANUP_LVM" ]; then
     sudo --non-interactive $(dirname "$0")/ci/lvm-manage cleanup-lvm "$DEFAULT_LVM_POOL"
 fi