diff --git a/tests/hostside/Android.bp b/tests/hostside/Android.bp
index 429b737..0414030 100644
--- a/tests/hostside/Android.bp
+++ b/tests/hostside/Android.bp
@@ -7,4 +7,5 @@
     srcs: ["java/**/*.java"],
     test_suites: ["device-tests"],
     libs: ["tradefed"],
+    data: [":MicrodroidTestApp"],
 }
diff --git a/tests/hostside/AndroidTest.xml b/tests/hostside/AndroidTest.xml
index da24b71..247923d 100644
--- a/tests/hostside/AndroidTest.xml
+++ b/tests/hostside/AndroidTest.xml
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@
         <option name="force-root" value="true" />
     </target_preparer>
 
+    <target_preparer class="com.android.tradefed.targetprep.suite.SuiteApkInstaller">
+        <option name="cleanup-apks" value="true" />
+        <option name="test-file-name" value="MicrodroidTestApp.apk" />
+    </target_preparer>
+
     <test class="com.android.compatibility.common.tradefed.testtype.JarHostTest" >
         <option name="jar" value="MicrodroidHostTestCases.jar" />
     </test>
diff --git a/tests/hostside/java/android/virt/test/MicrodroidTestCase.java b/tests/hostside/java/android/virt/test/MicrodroidTestCase.java
index a1043f7..29d633f 100644
--- a/tests/hostside/java/android/virt/test/MicrodroidTestCase.java
+++ b/tests/hostside/java/android/virt/test/MicrodroidTestCase.java
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.not;
 import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.junit.Assume.assumeThat;
 
 import com.android.tradefed.testtype.DeviceJUnit4ClassRunner;
@@ -93,10 +94,24 @@
                         "cd %s; %sbin/mk_cdisk %setc/microdroid_cdisk_env.json env_composite.img",
                         TEST_ROOT, VIRT_APEX, VIRT_APEX);
         getDevice().executeShellCommand(makeEnvCompositeCmd);
+
+        String payloadJsonOrig = VIRT_APEX + "etc/microdroid_payload.json";
+        String mkPayload = VIRT_APEX + "bin/mk_payload";
+
+        // Get the path to the installed apk. Note that
+        // getDevice().getAppPackageInfo(...).getCodePath() doesn't work due to the incorrect
+        // parsing of the "=" character. (b/190975227)
+        String apkPath = getDevice().executeShellV2Command("pm path com.android.microdroid.test")
+                .getStdout().trim();
+        assertTrue(apkPath.startsWith("package:"));
+        apkPath = apkPath.substring("package:".length());
+        apkPath = apkPath.replace("/", "\\\\/");
+
+        // Replace APK_PATH in the json file with the actual path of the test APK
         String makePayloadCompositeCmd =
-                String.format(
-                        "cd %s; %sbin/mk_payload %setc/microdroid_payload.json payload.img",
-                        TEST_ROOT, VIRT_APEX, VIRT_APEX);
+                "cd " + TEST_ROOT + ";" +
+                String.format("sed s/APK_PATH/%s/ %s > %s;", apkPath, payloadJsonOrig, "payload.json") +
+                mkPayload + " payload.json payload.img";
         getDevice().executeShellCommand(makePayloadCompositeCmd);
 
         // Make sure that the composite images are created
diff --git a/tests/testapk/Android.bp b/tests/testapk/Android.bp
index 277ccc8..f2dad62 100644
--- a/tests/testapk/Android.bp
+++ b/tests/testapk/Android.bp
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
     srcs: ["src/java/**/*.java"],
     jni_libs: ["MicrodroidTestNativeLib"],
     sdk_version: "current",
-    apex_available: ["com.android.virt"], // TODO(jiyong): remove this from virt APEX
+    use_embedded_native_libs: true,
 }
 
 // TODO(jiyong): make this a binary, not a shared library
@@ -15,5 +15,4 @@
     name: "MicrodroidTestNativeLib",
     srcs: ["src/native/*.cpp"],
     sdk_version: "current",
-    apex_available: ["com.android.virt"], // TODO(jiyong): remove this from virt APEX
 }