diff --git a/mslib/mscolab/conf.py b/mslib/mscolab/conf.py
index 998afa4d8..9adf5cfff 100644
--- a/mslib/mscolab/conf.py
+++ b/mslib/mscolab/conf.py
@@ -156,6 +156,10 @@ class setup_saml2_backend:
             #     }
             # },
         ]
+        #  Setting up the path from environment variables to settings is only for testing purposes
+        mscolab_settings.MSCOLAB_SSO_DIR = os.getenv("TESTING_MSCOLAB_SSO_DIR", mscolab_settings.MSCOLAB_SSO_DIR)
+        mscolab_settings.USE_SAML2 = bool(os.getenv("TESTING_USE_SAML2", mscolab_settings.USE_SAML2))
+
         if os.path.exists(f"{mscolab_settings.MSCOLAB_SSO_DIR}/mss_saml2_backend.yaml"):
             with open(f"{mscolab_settings.MSCOLAB_SSO_DIR}/mss_saml2_backend.yaml", encoding="utf-8") as fobj:
                 yaml_data = yaml.safe_load(fobj)
diff --git a/tests/constants.py b/tests/constants.py
index 8e782de48..fbdc1b0de 100644
--- a/tests/constants.py
+++ b/tests/constants.py
@@ -63,7 +63,12 @@
 # we keep DATA_DIR until we move netCDF4 files to pyfilesystem2
 DATA_DIR = DATA_FS.getsyspath("")
 
+# set MSCOLAB_SSO_DIR through envs
 MSCOLAB_SSO_DIR = os.path.join(os.path.expanduser("~"), 'testingdatasso')
+os.environ['TESTING_MSCOLAB_SSO_DIR'] = MSCOLAB_SSO_DIR
+
+#  set TESTING_USE_SAML2 through envs
+os.environ['TESTING_USE_SAML2'] = "True"
 
 # deployed mscolab url
 MSCOLAB_URL = "http://localhost:8083"