diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index 48740920cd09b..aee94c59612d2 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -42,7 +42,9 @@ install:
   # Install maven and dependencies
   - ps: .\dev\appveyor-install-dependencies.ps1
   # Required package for R unit tests
-  - cmd: R -e "install.packages(c('knitr', 'rmarkdown', 'testthat', 'e1071', 'survival'), repos='http://cran.us.r-project.org')"
+  - cmd: R -e "install.packages(c('knitr', 'rmarkdown', 'devtools', 'e1071', 'survival'), repos='http://cran.us.r-project.org')"
+  # Here, we use the fixed version of testthat. For more details, please see SPARK-22817.
+  - cmd: R -e "devtools::install_version('testthat', version = '1.0.2', repos='http://cran.us.r-project.org')"
   - cmd: R -e "packageVersion('knitr'); packageVersion('rmarkdown'); packageVersion('testthat'); packageVersion('e1071'); packageVersion('survival')"
 
 build_script: