diff --git a/tests/test_discovery.py b/tests/test_discovery.py
index c418114..73d6f84 100644
--- a/tests/test_discovery.py
+++ b/tests/test_discovery.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import copy
 import logging
 import os
 import stat
@@ -138,14 +139,17 @@ def test_discovery_invalid_specifier_raises(session_cache: DiskCache) -> None:
     [pytest.param(False, id="list"), pytest.param(True, id="iterator")],
 )
 def test_discovery_fallback_reuses_preferred_paths(
-    tmp_path: Path, session_cache: DiskCache, *, use_iterator: bool
+    tmp_path: Path, session_cache: DiskCache, mocker: MockerFixture, *, use_iterator: bool
 ) -> None:
-    preferred = tmp_path / "preferred"
-    subprocess.check_call([sys.executable, "-m", "venv", "--without-pip", "--copies", str(preferred)])
-    executable = preferred / ("Scripts/python.exe" if IS_WIN else "bin/python")
+    executable = tmp_path / "preferred" / ("Scripts/python.exe" if IS_WIN else "bin/python")
+    executable.parent.mkdir(parents=True)
+    executable.touch()
+    preferred_info = copy.deepcopy(PythonInfo.current_system(session_cache))
+    preferred_info.executable = str(executable)
+    mocker.patch.object(PythonInfo, "from_exe", return_value=preferred_info)
     paths = [str(executable)]
     result = get_interpreter(
-        ["missing-interpreter", str(sys.version_info.major)],
+        ["missing-interpreter", ">=3"],
         try_first_with=iter(paths) if use_iterator else paths,
         cache=session_cache,
         env={**os.environ, "PATH": str(tmp_path), "UV_PYTHON_INSTALL_DIR": str(tmp_path / "missing")},
@@ -157,7 +161,7 @@ def test_discovery_fallback_reuses_preferred_paths(
 
 def test_discovery_stops_reading_preferred_paths_after_match(session_cache: DiskCache) -> None:
     preferred_paths = iter([sys.executable, "unneeded"])
-    result = get_interpreter(str(sys.version_info.major), try_first_with=preferred_paths, cache=session_cache)
+    result = get_interpreter(">=3", try_first_with=preferred_paths, cache=session_cache)
     assert result is not None
     assert next(preferred_paths) == "unneeded"