diff --git a/changelog/build_unittest.dd b/changelog/build_unittest.dd
index 13825b8..2574c29 100644
--- a/changelog/build_unittest.dd
+++ b/changelog/build_unittest.dd
@@ -3,3 +3,6 @@
 `dub build --config=unittest --build=unittest[-cov]` can now be used to
 mimic building the test runner executable of `dub test [--coverage]`.
 Note that this doesn't require an existing `unittest` configuration.
+
+`dub describe --config=unittest` allows to derive the path to the
+executable.
diff --git a/source/dub/commandline.d b/source/dub/commandline.d
index 81d054d..fcb0f55 100644
--- a/source/dub/commandline.d
+++ b/source/dub/commandline.d
@@ -1604,6 +1604,14 @@
 		settings.compiler = m_compiler;
 		settings.filterVersions = m_filterVersions;
 		settings.buildSettings.options |= m_buildSettings.options & BuildOption.lowmem;
+		settings.single = m_single;
+
+		// With a requested `unittest` config, switch to the special test runner
+		// config (which doesn't require an existing `unittest` configuration).
+		if (config == "unittest") {
+			const test_config = dub.project.addTestRunnerConfiguration(settings, false);
+			if (test_config) settings.config = test_config;
+		}
 
 		if (m_importPaths) { m_data = ["import-paths"]; m_dataList = true; }
 		else if (m_stringImportPaths) { m_data = ["string-import-paths"]; m_dataList = true; }
diff --git a/test/issue1856-build-unittest.sh b/test/issue1856-build-unittest.sh
index 7db7f1c..d090092 100755
--- a/test/issue1856-build-unittest.sh
+++ b/test/issue1856-build-unittest.sh
@@ -17,7 +17,8 @@
 +/
 void foo() {}
 EOF
-$DUB build --single "$TMPDIR/no_ut.d" --config=unittest --build=unittest
+$DUB describe --single "$TMPDIR/no_ut.d" --config=unittest | grep -q '"targetName": "no_ut-test-library"'
+$DUB build    --single "$TMPDIR/no_ut.d" --config=unittest --build=unittest
 "$TMPDIR/no_ut-test-library"
 
 # partial unittest config
@@ -31,7 +32,8 @@
 +/
 void foo() {}
 EOF
-$DUB build --single "$TMPDIR/partial_ut.d" --config=unittest --build=unittest
+$DUB describe --single "$TMPDIR/partial_ut.d" --config=unittest | grep -q '"targetName": "partial_ut-test-unittest"'
+$DUB build    --single "$TMPDIR/partial_ut.d" --config=unittest --build=unittest
 "$TMPDIR/bin/partial_ut-test-unittest"
 
 # full unittest config
@@ -46,5 +48,6 @@
 +/
 void main() {}
 EOF
-$DUB build --single "$TMPDIR/full_ut.d" --config=unittest --build=unittest
+$DUB describe --single "$TMPDIR/full_ut.d" --config=unittest | grep -q '"targetName": "full_ut"'
+$DUB build    --single "$TMPDIR/full_ut.d" --config=unittest --build=unittest
 "$TMPDIR/bin/full_ut"