diff --git a/Lib/test/test_argparse.py b/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
index b0e9a03ea81..5a409192d9d 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_argparse.py
@@ -1502,6 +1502,8 @@ class WFile(object):
         return self.name == other.name
 
 
+@unittest.skipIf(hasattr(os, 'geteuid') and os.geteuid() == 0,
+                 "non-root user required")
 class TestFileTypeW(TempDirMixin, ParserTestCase):
     """Test the FileType option/argument type for writing files"""