diff --git a/interpreter/CMakeLists.txt b/interpreter/CMakeLists.txt
index a3bd904663cbf..9b9ed36cd00f1 100644
--- a/interpreter/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/interpreter/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -557,14 +557,10 @@ set(CPPINTEROP_USE_CLING ON CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
 set(CPPINTEROP_USE_REPL OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
 
 #---Disable testing on InterOp if ROOT's testing is OFF (InterOp tests are enabled by default) -------------------------------------------------------
-ROOT_CHECK_CONNECTION("CPPINTEROP_ENABLE_TESTING=OFF")
-if(testing AND NOT NO_CONNECTION)
-  set(CPPINTEROP_ENABLE_TESTING ON CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
+if(testing)
+  set(CPPINTEROP_ENABLE_TESTING ON CACHE BOOL "Enable gtest in CppInterOp")
 else()
-  if(NO_CONNECTION)
-    message(STATUS "No internet connection, disabling the `CppInterOp testing infrastructure` option")
-  endif()
-  set(CPPINTEROP_ENABLE_TESTING OFF CACHE BOOL "")
+  set(CPPINTEROP_ENABLE_TESTING OFF CACHE BOOL "Enable gtest in CppInterOp")
 endif()
 
 add_subdirectory(CppInterOp)
diff --git a/interpreter/CppInterOp/unittests/CMakeLists.txt b/interpreter/CppInterOp/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
index f13b85f68f497..3d13205b52aa6 100644
--- a/interpreter/CppInterOp/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/interpreter/CppInterOp/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,11 @@ enable_testing()
 
 # LLVM builds (not installed llvm) provides gtest.
 if (NOT TARGET GTest::gtest AND NOT TARGET gtest)
-  include(GoogleTest)
+  find_package(GTest)
+  if (NOT GTest_FOUND)
+    message(WARNING "CppInterOp could not find GTest. Provide the package or set CPPINTEROP_ENABLE_TESTING=OFF to disable this warning.")
+    return()
+  endif()
 endif()
 
 if(EMSCRIPTEN)