diff --git a/test/smoke/src/areas/common.ts b/test/smoke/src/areas/common.ts
index 33127905ec6..96515d7ca49 100644
--- a/test/smoke/src/areas/common.ts
+++ b/test/smoke/src/areas/common.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ export class CommonActions {
 	public async getWindowTitle(): Promise<any> {
 		return this.spectron.client.getTitle();
 	}
-	
+
 	public enter(): Promise<any> {
 		return this.spectron.client.keys(['Enter', 'NULL']);
 	}
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ export class CommonActions {
 		await this.spectron.wait();
 		return this.saveOpenedFile();
 	}
-	
+
 	public async newUntitledFile(): Promise<any> {
 		await this.spectron.command('workbench.action.files.newUntitledFile');
 		return this.spectron.wait();
@@ -45,12 +45,14 @@ export class CommonActions {
 	}
 
 	public async getTab(tabName: string, active?: boolean): Promise<any> {
+		await this.spectron.command('workbench.action.closeMessages'); // close any notification messages that could overlap tabs
+
 		let tabSelector = active ? '.tab.active' : 'div';
 		let el = await this.spectron.client.element(`.tabs-container ${tabSelector}[aria-label="${tabName}, tab"]`);
 		if (el.status === 0) {
 			return el;
 		}
-		
+
 		return undefined;
 	}
 
@@ -118,7 +120,7 @@ export class CommonActions {
 			selector += ' explorer-item';
 		}
 		selector += '"]';
-		
+
 		await this.spectron.waitFor(this.spectron.client.doubleClick, selector);
 		return this.spectron.wait();
 	}
@@ -132,7 +134,7 @@ export class CommonActions {
 		} else if (extension === 'md') {
 			return 'md-ext-file-icon markdown-lang-file-icon';
 		}
-		
+
 		throw new Error('No class defined for this file extension');
 	}
 
@@ -142,7 +144,7 @@ export class CommonActions {
 			if (Array.isArray(span)) {
 				return span[0];
 			}
-			
+
 			return span;
 		} catch (e) {
 			return undefined;
diff --git a/test/smoke/src/tests/data-migration.ts b/test/smoke/src/tests/data-migration.ts
index 4b8e627bcfe..68c4f698b7e 100644
--- a/test/smoke/src/tests/data-migration.ts
+++ b/test/smoke/src/tests/data-migration.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 
 import * as assert from 'assert';
 
-import { SpectronApplication, USER_DIR, STABLE_PATH, LATEST_PATH, WORKSPACE_PATH } from "../spectron/application";
+import { SpectronApplication, USER_DIR, STABLE_PATH, LATEST_PATH, WORKSPACE_PATH, EXTENSIONS_DIR } from "../spectron/application";
 import { CommonActions } from '../areas/common';
 
 let app: SpectronApplication;
@@ -20,11 +20,12 @@ export function testDataMigration() {
 
 		afterEach(async function () {
 			await app.stop();
-			return await common.removeDirectory(USER_DIR)
+			await common.removeDirectory(USER_DIR);
+			return await common.removeDirectory(EXTENSIONS_DIR);
 		});
 
 		function setupSpectron(context: Mocha.ITestCallbackContext, appPath: string, workspace?: string[]): void {
-			app = new SpectronApplication(appPath, context.test.fullTitle(), context.test.currentRetry(), workspace, [`--user-data-dir=${USER_DIR}`]);
+			app = new SpectronApplication(appPath, context.test.fullTitle(), context.test.currentRetry(), workspace, [`--user-data-dir=${USER_DIR}`, `--extensions-dir=${EXTENSIONS_DIR}`]);
 			common = new CommonActions(app);
 		}