diff --git a/makefiles/tests/tests.inc.mk b/makefiles/tests/tests.inc.mk
index c2152ccb21..7ceded0bcc 100644
--- a/makefiles/tests/tests.inc.mk
+++ b/makefiles/tests/tests.inc.mk
@@ -40,17 +40,36 @@ test-as-root/available:
 	$(Q)test -n "$(strip $(TESTS_AS_ROOT))"
 
 # Tests that require specific configuration
-.PHONY: test-with-config test-with-config/available
-TESTS_WITH_CONFIG ?= $(foreach file,$(wildcard $(APPDIR)/tests-with-config/*[^~]),\
-                        $(shell test -f $(file) -a -x $(file) && echo $(file)))
+.PHONY: test-with-config test-with-config/available test-with-config/check-config
+# Scripts for tests that require specific configuration (with automatic
+# configuration checks filtered out)
+TESTS_WITH_CONFIG ?= $(filter-out $(APPDIR)/tests-with-config/check-config%,\
+  $(foreach file,$(wildcard $(APPDIR)/tests-with-config/*[^~]),\
+     $(shell test -f $(file) -a -x $(file) && echo $(file)))\
+)
+# Scripts that provide an automatic configuration check
+# for tests with specific configuration
+CHECK_CONFIG ?= $(foreach file,$(wildcard $(APPDIR)/tests-with-config/check-config*[^~]),\
+                  $(shell test -f $(file) -a -x $(file) && echo $(file)))
 
-test-with-config: $(TEST_DEPS)
+test-with-config: test-with-config/check-config $(TEST_DEPS)
 	$(Q) for t in $(TESTS_WITH_CONFIG); do \
 		$$t || exit 1; \
 	done
 
-test-with-config/available:
-	$(Q)test -n "$(strip $(TESTS_WITH_CONFIG))"
+# run the automatic configuration check
+test-with-config/check-config:
+	$(Q)test -z "$(strip $(CHECK_CONFIG))" || \
+		${COLOR_ECHO} -n "${COLOR_RED}"; \
+		for t in $(CHECK_CONFIG) empty; do \
+			test $$t = "empty" && break; \
+			$$t || \
+			(echo "System configuration for" \
+			"tests is not available, check $${t#$${RIOTBASE}/} failed." \
+			"${COLOR_RESET}"; \
+				exit 1) || exit 1; \
+		done; \
+		${COLOR_ECHO} -n "${COLOR_RESET}"
 
 # this target only makes sense if an ELFFILE is actually created, thus guard by
 # RIOTNOLINK="".