diff --git a/test/alice/README.md b/test/alice/README.md
deleted file mode 100644
index f8b6c65..0000000
--- a/test/alice/README.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-**alice's** identity files and keys go here
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/bob/README.md b/test/bob/README.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 4b32d98..0000000
--- a/test/bob/README.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-**bob's** identity files and keys go here
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/carol/README.md b/test/carol/README.md
deleted file mode 100644
index e742c6a..0000000
--- a/test/carol/README.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-**carol's** identity files and keys go here
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/create_test_identities.sh b/test/create_test_identities.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..a87af3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/create_test_identities.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# !/bin/bash
+
+NWID=""
+
+mkdir -p test/alice test/bob test/carol test/ted
+
+./build/darwin/selftest generate_id ${NWID} test/alice
+./build/darwin/selftest generate_id ${NWID} test/bob
+./build/darwin/selftest generate_id ${NWID} test/carol
+./build/darwin/selftest generate_id ${NWID} test/ted
diff --git a/test/selftest.cpp b/test/selftest.cpp
index b644c22..e5c3808 100644
--- a/test/selftest.cpp
+++ b/test/selftest.cpp
@@ -1984,8 +1984,8 @@ int ZT_control_semantics_test(bool *passed)
 	sleep(1);
 */
 	zts_start(path, false);
-	zts_join(strtoll(nwid,NULL,16));
-	zts_leave(strtoll(nwid,NULL,16));
+	zts_join(strtoull(nwid,NULL,16));
+	zts_leave(strtoull(nwid,NULL,16));
 	zts_stop();	
 
 	DEBUG_TEST("---\n");
@@ -2683,13 +2683,24 @@ int trigger_address_sanitizer()
 int main(int argc , char *argv[])
 {
 #if defined(__SELFTEST__)
-	if (argc == 3) {
+	if (argc == 4) {
+		DEBUG_TEST("generating id...");
 		if (!strcmp(argv[1],"generate_id"))
 		{
 			DEBUG_TEST("generating ZeroTier identity for testing purposes...");
-			if (strlen(argv[2]) > 0) {
-				zts_start(argv[2], true); // blocking call
+			if (strlen(argv[2]) <= 0) {
+				DEBUG_ERROR("invalid <nwid> was given");
+				exit(-1);
 			}
+			if (strlen(argv[3]) <= 0) {
+				DEBUG_ERROR("invalid pathname was given");
+				exit(-1);
+			}
+			uint64_t nwid = strtoull(argv[2],NULL,16);
+			zts_start(argv[3], true);
+			zts_join(nwid);
+			uint64_t nodeId = zts_get_node_id();
+			DEBUG_TEST("generated id: %llx", nodeId);
 			exit(0);
 		}
 	}
@@ -2697,7 +2708,7 @@ int main(int argc , char *argv[])
 
 	if (argc < 6) {
 		fprintf(stderr, "usage: selftest <num_repeats> <selftest.conf> <alice|bob|ted|carol> to <bob|alice|ted|carol>\n");
-		fprintf(stderr, "usage: selftest generate_id <alice|bob...>\n");
+		fprintf(stderr, "usage: selftest generate_id <nwid> <alice|bob...>\n");
 		fprintf(stderr, "e.g. : selftest 3 test/test.conf alice to bob\n");
 		return 1;
 	}
@@ -2770,7 +2781,7 @@ int main(int argc , char *argv[])
 	if (me != "dummy") { // used for testing ZT service wrapper API (before, during, and after coming online)
 		// set start time here since we need to wait for both libzt instances to be online
 		DEBUG_TEST("app-thread, waiting for libzt to come online...\n");
-		uint64_t nwid = strtoll(nwidstr.c_str(),NULL,16);
+		uint64_t nwid = strtoull(nwidstr.c_str(),NULL,16);
 		zts_startjoin(path.c_str(), nwid);
 		uint64_t nodeId = zts_get_node_id();
 		DEBUG_TEST("I am %x, %s", nodeId, me.c_str());
diff --git a/test/ted/README.md b/test/ted/README.md
deleted file mode 100644
index bd1bfdb..0000000
--- a/test/ted/README.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-**ted's** identity files and keys go here
\ No newline at end of file