diff --git a/test/zdtm.py b/test/zdtm.py
index 878c3e9cb..c011c79c0 100755
--- a/test/zdtm.py
+++ b/test/zdtm.py
@@ -2584,12 +2584,18 @@ def clean_stuff(opts):
 
 
 def set_nr_hugepages(nr):
-    orig_hugepages = 0
-    with open("/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages", "r") as f:
-        orig_hugepages = int(f.read())
-    with open("/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages", "w") as f:
-        f.write("{}\n".format(nr))
-    return orig_hugepages
+    try:
+        orig_hugepages = 0
+        with open("/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages", "r") as f:
+            orig_hugepages = int(f.read())
+        with open("/proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages", "w") as f:
+            f.write("{}\n".format(nr))
+        return orig_hugepages
+    except OSError as err:
+        if err.errno != errno.EOPNOTSUPP:
+            raise
+
+    return 0
 
 
 def get_cli_args():
diff --git a/test/zdtm/static/maps09.checkskip b/test/zdtm/static/maps09.checkskip
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..df2370815
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/zdtm/static/maps09.checkskip
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# will fail with EOPNOTSUPP
+cat /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages &> /dev/null
diff --git a/test/zdtm/static/maps10.checkskip b/test/zdtm/static/maps10.checkskip
new file mode 120000
index 000000000..fb42f0f44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/zdtm/static/maps10.checkskip
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+maps09.checkskip
\ No newline at end of file