diff --git "a/frameworks\\utest/source/harness.cpp" "b/frameworks\\utest/source/harness.cpp"
index d621f1bcf7..4c733fca61 100644
--- "a/frameworks\\utest/source/harness.cpp"
+++ "b/frameworks\\utest/source/harness.cpp"
@@ -60,12 +60,8 @@ bool Harness::run(const Specification& specification)
     return run(specification, 0);
 }
 
-bool Harness::run(const Specification& specification, std::size_t start_case)
+bool Harness::run(const Specification& specification, std::size_t)
 {
-    // ignore any invalid start index
-    if (start_case >= specification.length)
-        return false;
-
     // check if a specification is currently running
     if (is_busy())
         return false;
@@ -84,17 +80,28 @@ bool Harness::run(const Specification& specification, std::size_t start_case)
     case_passed = 0;
     case_failed = 0;
     case_failed_before = 0;
-    case_current = &test_cases[start_case];
-    location = LOCATION_TEST_SETUP;
 
-    if (handlers.test_setup && (handlers.test_setup(test_length) != STATUS_CONTINUE)) {
-        if (handlers.test_failure) handlers.test_failure(failure_t(REASON_TEST_SETUP, location));
-        if (handlers.test_teardown) handlers.test_teardown(0, 0, failure_t(REASON_TEST_SETUP, location));
+    location = LOCATION_TEST_SETUP;
+    int setup_status = 0;
+    failure_t failure(REASON_NONE, location);
+
+    if (handlers.test_setup) {
+        setup_status = handlers.test_setup(test_length);
+        if (setup_status == STATUS_CONTINUE) setup_status = 0;
+        else if (setup_status < STATUS_CONTINUE)     failure.reason = REASON_TEST_SETUP;
+        else if (setup_status > signed(test_length)) failure.reason = REASON_CASE_INDEX;
+    }
+
+    if (failure.reason != REASON_NONE) {
+        if (handlers.test_failure) handlers.test_failure(failure);
+        if (handlers.test_teardown) handlers.test_teardown(0, 0, failure);
         test_cases = NULL;
         exit(1);
         return true;
     }
 
+    case_current = &test_cases[setup_status];
+
     minar::Scheduler::postCallback(run_next_case);
     return true;
 }