diff --git a/test/CMakeLists.txt b/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 8f0df5470c9446da20c4cacb54c99097f108b16a..aba53a7d64ea19b4f8e1c26466b08fcd0b8084d6 100644
--- a/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -67,7 +67,8 @@ foreach (i RANGE "${len_test_cases}")
     target_link_libraries(${test_case_name}
         PRIVATE GTest::gtest_main caosdb ccaosdb gtest::gtest caosdb_grpc)
     target_include_directories(${test_case_name}
-      PUBLIC ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/include ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
+      PUBLIC ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/include ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})     
+     set_target_properties(${test_case_name} PROPERTIES RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY  "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}")
     if(_LINTING)
         message(STATUS "linting for tests: ${_CMAKE_CXX_INCLUDE_WHAT_YOU_USE}")
         set_target_properties(${test_case_name}
@@ -76,12 +77,15 @@ foreach (i RANGE "${len_test_cases}")
             CXX_INCLUDE_WHAT_YOU_USE "${_CMAKE_CXX_INCLUDE_WHAT_YOU_USE}")
     endif()
     gtest_discover_tests(${test_case_name}
-        WORKING_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}"
+        WORKING_DIRECTORY "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}"
         PROPERTIES
             LABELS "caosdb-cpplib-unit-tests"
         )
 endforeach ()
 
+message(STATUS "CMAKE_BINARY_DIR ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}")
+message(STATUS "CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}")
+
 # copy test data to build dir
 set(TEST_DATA_DIR "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/test_data")
 configure_file(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/caosdb_test_utility.h.in