diff --git a/maven-surefire-common/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/surefire/AbstractSurefireMojo.java b/maven-surefire-common/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/surefire/AbstractSurefireMojo.java
index 18cfa72bde..d95c6a5eb6 100644
--- a/maven-surefire-common/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/surefire/AbstractSurefireMojo.java
+++ b/maven-surefire-common/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/plugin/surefire/AbstractSurefireMojo.java
@@ -1222,7 +1222,6 @@ private SurefireProperties setupProperties()
                                                              getUserProperties(), sysProps );
 
         result.setProperty( "basedir", getBasedir().getAbsolutePath() );
-        result.setProperty( "user.dir", getWorkingDirectory().getAbsolutePath() );
         result.setProperty( "localRepository", getLocalRepository().getBasedir() );
         if ( isForking() )
         {
@@ -1246,10 +1245,16 @@ private SurefireProperties setupProperties()
                         );
             }
         }
+        else
+        {
+            result.setProperty( "user.dir", getWorkingDirectory().getAbsolutePath() );
+        }
+
         if ( getConsoleLogger().isDebugEnabled() )
         {
             showToLog( result, getConsoleLogger() );
         }
+
         return result;
     }