diff --git a/test/parallel/test-fs-link.js b/test/parallel/test-fs-link.js
index 4e95d20f7b6959..67915e16e96ef3 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-fs-link.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-fs-link.js
@@ -8,13 +8,16 @@ common.refreshTmpDir();
 
 // test creating and reading hard link
 const srcPath = path.join(common.fixturesDir, 'cycles', 'root.js');
+const tmpSrcPath = path.join(common.tmpDir, 'root.js');
 const dstPath = path.join(common.tmpDir, 'link1.js');
+const srcContent = fs.readFileSync(srcPath, 'utf8');
 
 const callback = function(err) {
   if (err) throw err;
-  const srcContent = fs.readFileSync(srcPath, 'utf8');
   const dstContent = fs.readFileSync(dstPath, 'utf8');
   assert.strictEqual(srcContent, dstContent);
 };
 
-fs.link(srcPath, dstPath, common.mustCall(callback));
+// copy to same directory to avoid cross-filesystem issues
+fs.writeFileSync(tmpSrcPath, srcContent, 'utf8');
+fs.link(tmpSrcPath, dstPath, common.mustCall(callback));