diff --git a/.functests b/.functests
index 9797f58a1e..d4190f5675 100755
--- a/.functests
+++ b/.functests
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-SRC_DIR=$(dirname $0)
+SRC_DIR=$(python -c "import os; print os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath('$0'))")
 
 cd ${SRC_DIR}/test/functional
 nosetests --exe $@
diff --git a/.probetests b/.probetests
index 5d9f69915e..e89fcc01d4 100755
--- a/.probetests
+++ b/.probetests
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-cd $(dirname $0)/test/probe
+SRC_DIR=$(python -c "import os; print os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath('$0'))")
+
+cd ${SRC_DIR}/test/probe
 nosetests --exe
 rvalue=$?
 cd -
diff --git a/.unittests b/.unittests
index ffce146d6b..4004b842ac 100755
--- a/.unittests
+++ b/.unittests
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
-TOP_DIR=$(dirname $(python -c 'import os,sys;print os.path.realpath(sys.argv[1])' $0))
+TOP_DIR=$(python -c "import os; print os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath('$0'))")
 
 python -c 'from distutils.version import LooseVersion as Ver; import nose, sys; sys.exit(0 if Ver(nose.__version__) >= Ver("1.2.0") else 1)'
 if [ $? != 0 ]; then
diff --git a/test/probe/common.py b/test/probe/common.py
index 9c0f3bd991..d49a4e8f1b 100644
--- a/test/probe/common.py
+++ b/test/probe/common.py
@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ from time import sleep, time
 from swiftclient import get_auth, head_account
 
 from swift.common.ring import Ring
-from swift.common.utils import readconf, ismount
+from swift.common.utils import readconf
+from swift.common.manager import Manager
 
 from test.probe import CHECK_SERVER_TIMEOUT, VALIDATE_RSYNC
 
@@ -153,9 +154,10 @@ def get_ring(server, force_validate=None):
         conf = port_to_config[dev['port']]
         for device in os.listdir(conf['devices']):
             if device == dev['device']:
-                full_path = path.realpath(path.join(conf['devices'], device))
-                assert ismount(full_path), \
-                    'device %s in %s was not mounted (%s)' % (
+                dev_path = path.join(conf['devices'], device)
+                full_path = path.realpath(dev_path)
+                assert path.exists(full_path), \
+                    'device %s in %s was not found (%s)' % (
                         device, conf['devices'], full_path)
                 break
         else:
@@ -163,7 +165,10 @@ def get_ring(server, force_validate=None):
                 "unable to find ring device %s under %s's devices (%s)" % (
                     dev['device'], server, conf['devices']))
         # verify server is exposing rsync device
-        rsync_export = '%s%s' % (server, dev['replication_port'])
+        if port_to_config[dev['port']].get('vm_test_mode', False):
+            rsync_export = '%s%s' % (server, dev['replication_port'])
+        else:
+            rsync_export = server
         cmd = "rsync rsync://localhost/%s" % rsync_export
         p = Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=PIPE)
         stdout, _stderr = p.communicate()
@@ -184,6 +189,7 @@ def reset_environment():
     p = Popen("resetswift 2>&1", shell=True, stdout=PIPE)
     stdout, _stderr = p.communicate()
     print stdout
+    Manager(['all']).stop()
     pids = {}
     try:
         account_ring = get_ring('account')