diff --git a/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/tests/apache-conf-files/apache-conf-test b/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/tests/apache-conf-files/apache-conf-test
index f27e0d3b1..7a974ada4 100755
--- a/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/tests/apache-conf-files/apache-conf-test
+++ b/certbot-apache/certbot_apache/tests/apache-conf-files/apache-conf-test
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 # with each of the "passing" conf files.
 
 SERVER="${SERVER:-http://localhost:4000/directory}"
-if ! curl "$SERVER" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+if ! python -c "import requests; requests.get('$SERVER')"; then
     echo "ACME server not found."
     echo "Please set SERVER to the ACME server's directory URL."
     exit 1