diff --git a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2Suite.scala b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2Suite.scala
index e67ecf858ae5d..e28d23f2ce089 100644
--- a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2Suite.scala
+++ b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/HiveThriftServer2Suite.scala
@@ -23,7 +23,6 @@ import java.sql.{DriverManager, Statement}
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException
 
 import scala.collection.mutable.ArrayBuffer
-import scala.collection.JavaConversions._
 import scala.concurrent.duration._
 import scala.concurrent.{Await, Promise}
 import scala.sys.process.{Process, ProcessLogger}
@@ -43,11 +42,6 @@ class HiveThriftServer2Suite extends FunSuite with Logging {
   Class.forName(classOf[HiveDriver].getCanonicalName)
 
   val verbose = Option(System.getenv("SPARK_SQL_TEST_VERBOSE")).isDefined
-  // Since we use info to assert server process started successfully,
-  // make sure that log4j level is INFO
-  org.apache.log4j.LogManager.getCurrentLoggers.foreach { log =>
-    log.asInstanceOf[org.apache.log4j.Logger].setLevel(org.apache.log4j.Level.INFO)
-  }
   
   def startThriftServerWithin(timeout: FiniteDuration = 1.minute)(f: Statement => Unit) {
     Thread.sleep(5000)
@@ -100,8 +94,8 @@ class HiveThriftServer2Suite extends FunSuite with Logging {
           .run(ProcessLogger(captureLogOutput, _ => ()))
       }
     }
-
-    Process(command).run(ProcessLogger(
+    // reset SPARK_TESTING to avoid loading Log4J configurations in testing class paths
+    Process(command, None, ("SPARK_TESTING", "0")).run(ProcessLogger(
       captureThriftServerOutput("stdout"),
       captureThriftServerOutput("stderr")))