diff --git a/changelog/build_unittest.dd b/changelog/build_unittest.dd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..13825b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/build_unittest.dd
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Building the special test runner configuration
+
+`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.
diff --git a/source/dub/commandline.d b/source/dub/commandline.d
index d7be6fe..3fa87b2 100644
--- a/source/dub/commandline.d
+++ b/source/dub/commandline.d
@@ -1015,7 +1015,8 @@
 		m_defaultConfig = null;
 		enforce (loadSpecificPackage(dub, package_name, ver), "Failed to load package.");
 
-		if (m_buildConfig.length != 0 && !dub.configurations.canFind(m_buildConfig))
+		if (m_buildConfig.length != 0 && !dub.configurations.canFind(m_buildConfig) &&
+		    m_buildConfig != "unittest")
 		{
 			string msg = "Unknown build configuration: "~m_buildConfig;
 			enum distance = 3;
@@ -1181,8 +1182,16 @@
 		gensettings.single = m_single;
 
 		logDiagnostic("Generating using %s", m_generator);
-		dub.generateProject(m_generator, gensettings);
+
+		// With an explicitly requested `unittest` config, switch to the special test
+		// runner config (which doesn't require an existing `unittest` configuration).
+		if (m_buildConfig == "unittest")
+			dub.testProject(m_generator, gensettings, null, NativePath());
+		else
+			dub.generateProject(m_generator, gensettings);
+
 		if (m_buildType == "ddox") dub.runDdox(gensettings.run, app_args);
+
 		return 0;
 	}
 }
@@ -1403,7 +1412,7 @@
 		settings.runArgs = app_args;
 		settings.single = m_single;
 
-		dub.testProject(settings, m_buildConfig, NativePath(m_mainFile));
+		dub.testProject("build", settings, m_buildConfig, NativePath(m_mainFile));
 		return 0;
 	}
 }
diff --git a/source/dub/dub.d b/source/dub/dub.d
index 0bc56eb..8e1b609 100644
--- a/source/dub/dub.d
+++ b/source/dub/dub.d
@@ -646,11 +646,11 @@
 		generator.generate(settings);
 	}
 
-	/** Executes tests on the current project.
+	/** Generate project files using the special test runner (`dub test`) configuration.
 
-		Throws an exception, if unittests failed.
+		Any existing project files will be overridden.
 	*/
-	void testProject(GeneratorSettings settings, string config, NativePath custom_main_file)
+	void testProject(string ide, GeneratorSettings settings, string config, NativePath custom_main_file)
 	{
 		if (!custom_main_file.empty && !custom_main_file.absolute) custom_main_file = getWorkingDirectory() ~ custom_main_file;
 
@@ -665,7 +665,7 @@
 			if (!config.length) config = m_project.getDefaultConfiguration(settings.platform, true);
 		}
 
-		auto generator = createProjectGenerator("build", m_project);
+		auto generator = createProjectGenerator(ide, m_project);
 
 		auto test_config = format("%s-test-%s", m_project.rootPackage.name.replace(".", "-").replace(":", "-"), config);
 
@@ -673,16 +673,16 @@
 		m_project.addBuildSettings(lbuildsettings, settings, config, null, true);
 
 		if (lbuildsettings.targetType == TargetType.none) {
-			logInfo(`Configuration '%s' has target type "none". Skipping test.`, config);
+			logInfo(`Configuration '%s' has target type "none". Skipping test runner build.`, config);
 			return;
 		}
 
 		if (lbuildsettings.targetType == TargetType.executable && config == "unittest") {
-			logInfo("Running custom 'unittest' configuration.", config);
+			logInfo("Building custom 'unittest' configuration.", config);
 			if (!custom_main_file.empty) logWarn("Ignoring custom main file.");
 			settings.config = config;
 		} else if (lbuildsettings.sourceFiles.empty) {
-			logInfo(`No source files found in configuration '%s'. Falling back to "dub -b unittest".`, config);
+			logInfo(`No source files found in configuration '%s'. Falling back to default configuration.`, config);
 			if (!custom_main_file.empty) logWarn("Ignoring custom main file.");
 			settings.config = m_project.getDefaultConfiguration(settings.platform);
 		} else {
@@ -787,6 +787,7 @@
 			settings.config = test_config;
 		}
 
+		if (m_dryRun) return; // TODO: pass m_dryRun to the generator
 		generator.generate(settings);
 	}
 
diff --git a/test/issue1856-build-unittest.sh b/test/issue1856-build-unittest.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..7db7f1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/issue1856-build-unittest.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d "$(basename "$0").XXXXXX")
+
+function cleanup {
+    rm -rf "$TMPDIR"
+}
+trap cleanup EXIT
+
+# no unittest config
+cat > "$TMPDIR/no_ut.d" <<EOF
+/+ dub.sdl:
+name "no_ut"
+targetType "library"
++/
+void foo() {}
+EOF
+$DUB build --single "$TMPDIR/no_ut.d" --config=unittest --build=unittest
+"$TMPDIR/no_ut-test-library"
+
+# partial unittest config
+cat > "$TMPDIR/partial_ut.d" <<EOF
+/+ dub.sdl:
+name "partial_ut"
+targetType "library"
+configuration "unittest" {
+    targetPath "bin"
+}
++/
+void foo() {}
+EOF
+$DUB build --single "$TMPDIR/partial_ut.d" --config=unittest --build=unittest
+"$TMPDIR/bin/partial_ut-test-unittest"
+
+# full unittest config
+cat > "$TMPDIR/full_ut.d" <<EOF
+/+ dub.sdl:
+name "full_ut"
+targetType "library"
+configuration "unittest" {
+    targetType "executable"
+    targetPath "bin"
+}
++/
+void main() {}
+EOF
+$DUB build --single "$TMPDIR/full_ut.d" --config=unittest --build=unittest
+"$TMPDIR/bin/full_ut"