diff --git a/nova/test.py b/nova/test.py
index 031618a71d43..5895f60944d0 100644
--- a/nova/test.py
+++ b/nova/test.py
@@ -409,6 +409,7 @@ class TestCase(testtools.TestCase):
             CONF.set_override(k, v, group)
 
     def start_service(self, name, host=None, **kwargs):
+        cell = None
         if name == 'compute' and self.USES_DB:
             # NOTE(danms): We need to create the HostMapping first, because
             # otherwise we'll fail to update the scheduler while running
@@ -424,7 +425,7 @@ class TestCase(testtools.TestCase):
                 # Make sure that CONF.host is relevant to the right hostname
                 self.useFixture(nova_fixtures.ConfPatcher(host=host))
         svc = self.useFixture(
-            nova_fixtures.ServiceFixture(name, host, **kwargs))
+            nova_fixtures.ServiceFixture(name, host, cell=cell, **kwargs))
 
         return svc.service
 
diff --git a/nova/tests/fixtures.py b/nova/tests/fixtures.py
index 0871e077e482..dd66530d4ef3 100644
--- a/nova/tests/fixtures.py
+++ b/nova/tests/fixtures.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ SESSION_CONFIGURED = False
 class ServiceFixture(fixtures.Fixture):
     """Run a service as a test fixture."""
 
-    def __init__(self, name, host=None, **kwargs):
+    def __init__(self, name, host=None, cell=None, **kwargs):
         name = name
         # If not otherwise specified, the host will default to the
         # name of the service. Some things like aggregates care that
@@ -73,12 +73,18 @@ class ServiceFixture(fixtures.Fixture):
         host = host or name
         kwargs.setdefault('host', host)
         kwargs.setdefault('binary', 'nova-%s' % name)
+        self.cell = cell
         self.kwargs = kwargs
 
     def setUp(self):
         super(ServiceFixture, self).setUp()
-        self.service = service.Service.create(**self.kwargs)
-        self.service.start()
+        self.ctxt = context.get_admin_context()
+        if self.cell:
+            context.set_target_cell(self.ctxt, self.cell)
+        with mock.patch('nova.context.get_admin_context',
+                        return_value=self.ctxt):
+            self.service = service.Service.create(**self.kwargs)
+            self.service.start()
         self.addCleanup(self.service.kill)