diff --git a/oslo_concurrency/fixture/lockutils.py b/oslo_concurrency/fixture/lockutils.py
index 01cec72..9639e40 100644
--- a/oslo_concurrency/fixture/lockutils.py
+++ b/oslo_concurrency/fixture/lockutils.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #    under the License.
 
 import fixtures
+from oslo.config import fixture as config
 
 from oslo_concurrency import lockutils
 
@@ -49,3 +50,27 @@ class LockFixture(fixtures.Fixture):
         super(LockFixture, self).setUp()
         self.addCleanup(self.mgr.__exit__, None, None, None)
         self.lock = self.mgr.__enter__()
+
+
+class ExternalLockFixture(fixtures.Fixture):
+    """Configure lock_path so external locks can be used in unit tests.
+
+    Creates a temporary directory to hold file locks and sets the oslo.config
+    lock_path opt to use it.  This can be used to enable external locking
+    on a per-test basis, rather than globally with the OSLO_LOCK_PATH
+    environment variable.
+
+    Example::
+
+        def test_method(self):
+            self.useFixture(ExternalLockFixture())
+            something_that_needs_external_locks()
+
+    Alternatively, the useFixture call could be placed in a test class's
+    setUp method to provide this functionality to all tests in the class.
+    """
+    def setUp(self):
+        super(ExternalLockFixture, self).setUp()
+        temp_dir = self.useFixture(fixtures.TempDir())
+        conf = self.useFixture(config.Config(lockutils.CONF)).config
+        conf(lock_path=temp_dir.path, group='oslo_concurrency')
diff --git a/tests/test_lockutils.py b/tests/test_lockutils.py
index 0bde4a8..1788be2 100644
--- a/tests/test_lockutils.py
+++ b/tests/test_lockutils.py
@@ -549,3 +549,27 @@ class TestLockFixture(test_base.BaseTestCase):
         fixture = fixtures.LockFixture('test-lock')
         self.useFixture(fixture)
         self.lock = fixture.lock
+
+
+class TestExternalLockFixture(test_base.BaseTestCase):
+    def test_fixture(self):
+        # NOTE(bnemec): This test case is only valid if lockutils-wrapper is
+        # _not_ in use. Otherwise lock_path will be set on lockutils import
+        # and this test will pass regardless of whether the fixture is used.
+        self.useFixture(fixtures.ExternalLockFixture())
+        # This will raise an exception if lock_path is not set
+        with lockutils.external_lock('foo'):
+            pass
+
+    def test_with_existing_config_fixture(self):
+        # Make sure the config fixture in the ExternalLockFixture doesn't
+        # cause any issues for tests using their own config fixture.
+        conf = self.useFixture(config.Config())
+        self.useFixture(fixtures.ExternalLockFixture())
+        with lockutils.external_lock('bar'):
+            conf.register_opt(cfg.StrOpt('foo'))
+            conf.config(foo='bar')
+            self.assertEqual(cfg.CONF.foo, 'bar')
+            # Due to config filter, lock_path should still not be present in
+            # the global config opt.
+            self.assertFalse(hasattr(cfg.CONF, 'lock_path'))