diff --git a/test/functional/ui/mouse_spec.lua b/test/functional/ui/mouse_spec.lua
index 653d8ad92c..9530e13453 100644
--- a/test/functional/ui/mouse_spec.lua
+++ b/test/functional/ui/mouse_spec.lua
@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ describe('Mouse input', function()
   end)
 
   it('ctrl + left click will search for a tag', function()
+    nvim('set_option', 'tags', './non-existent-tags-file')
     feed('<C-LeftMouse><0,0>')
     screen:expect([[
       E433: No tags file       |