diff --git a/tests/qemu-iotests/common b/tests/qemu-iotests/common
index fa8e69e74ca5..f2a7199c4b8f 100644
--- a/tests/qemu-iotests/common
+++ b/tests/qemu-iotests/common
@@ -86,7 +86,8 @@ s/ .*//p
     elif $xgroup
     then
         # arg after -x
-        [ ! -s $tmp.list ] && ls [0-9][0-9][0-9] [0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9] >$tmp.list 2>/dev/null
+        # Populate $tmp.list with all tests
+        awk '/^[0-9]{3,}/ {print $1}' "${source_iotests}/group" > $tmp.list 2>/dev/null
         group_list=`sed -n <"$source_iotests/group" -e 's/$/ /' -e "/^[0-9][0-9][0-9].* $r /"'{
 s/ .*//p
 }'`