diff --git a/exec/java-exec/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/impersonation/BaseTestImpersonation.java b/exec/java-exec/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/impersonation/BaseTestImpersonation.java
index f1d471d09e6..4c6e8a463c5 100644
--- a/exec/java-exec/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/impersonation/BaseTestImpersonation.java
+++ b/exec/java-exec/src/test/java/org/apache/drill/exec/impersonation/BaseTestImpersonation.java
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ protected static void startMiniDfsCluster(String testClass, boolean isImpersonat
       // Set the proxyuser settings so that the user who is running the Drillbits/MiniDfs can impersonate other users.
       dfsConf.set(String.format("hadoop.proxyuser.%s.hosts", processUser), "*");
       dfsConf.set(String.format("hadoop.proxyuser.%s.groups", processUser), "*");
+      dfsConf.set("hadoop.security.authentication", "simple");
     }
 
     // Start the MiniDfs cluster