diff --git a/Tests/CMakeLists.txt b/Tests/CMakeLists.txt
index b98f1586537f587cde6abd925e90a3a8a239354b..5d93e293cc2620407459660ec186f3d6b3a963db 100644
--- a/Tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -56,14 +56,6 @@ if(OGS_USE_MPI)
     target_link_libraries(testrunner ${MPI_CXX_LIBRARIES})
 endif()
 
-if(OGS_BUILD_GUI)
-    target_link_libraries(testrunner
-        QtDataView
-        QtStratView
-        VtkVis
-    )
-endif()
-
 if(OGS_BUILD_SWMM)
     target_link_libraries(testrunner SwmmInterface)
 endif()
diff --git a/Tests/testrunner.cpp b/Tests/testrunner.cpp
index b14fe810ef19a7ea905c8860e3d731d66ecbc8d1..ff54882b6849741469d75a777d51316bcb3e3ed0 100644
--- a/Tests/testrunner.cpp
+++ b/Tests/testrunner.cpp
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 #include "BaseLib/TemplateLogogFormatterSuppressedGCC.h"
 
 #ifdef OGS_BUILD_GUI
-#include <QApplication>
+#include <QCoreApplication>
 #endif
 
 /// Implementation of the googletest testrunner
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 
     setlocale(LC_ALL, "C");
 #ifdef OGS_BUILD_GUI
-    QApplication app(argc, argv, false);
+    QCoreApplication app(argc, argv, false);
 #endif
 
     // Attention: Order matters!