diff --git a/lib/auth/sso.js b/lib/auth/sso.js
index ca8c501684c29..e795545ecaf68 100644
--- a/lib/auth/sso.js
+++ b/lib/auth/sso.js
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ const log = require('npmlog')
 const profile = require('npm-profile')
 const npmFetch = require('npm-registry-fetch')
 
-const openUrl = promisify(require('../utils/open-url.js'))
+const openUrl = require('../utils/open-url.js')
 const otplease = require('../utils/otplease.js')
 
 const pollForSession = ({ registry, token, opts }) => {
diff --git a/lib/repo.js b/lib/repo.js
index 60fe6dbaf90b9..f0be99d4d69e9 100644
--- a/lib/repo.js
+++ b/lib/repo.js
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 const log = require('npmlog')
 const pacote = require('pacote')
 const { URL } = require('url')
-const { promisify } = require('util')
 
 const hostedFromMani = require('./utils/hosted-git-info-from-manifest.js')
-const openUrl = promisify(require('./utils/open-url.js'))
+const openUrl = require('./utils/open-url.js')
 const usageUtil = require('./utils/usage.js')
 
 class Repo {
diff --git a/test/lib/auth/sso.js b/test/lib/auth/sso.js
index 9d77e7c274025..dbf42ff62afa5 100644
--- a/test/lib/auth/sso.js
+++ b/test/lib/auth/sso.js
@@ -22,15 +22,12 @@ const sso = requireInject('../../../lib/auth/sso.js', {
   },
   'npm-profile': profile,
   'npm-registry-fetch': npmFetch,
-  '../../../lib/utils/open-url.js': (npm, url, msg, cb) => {
-    if (url)
-      cb()
-    else {
-      cb(Object.assign(
+  '../../../lib/utils/open-url.js': async (npm, url, msg) => {
+    if (!url)
+      throw Object.assign(
         new Error('failed open url'),
         { code: 'ERROR' }
-      ))
-    }
+      )
   },
   '../../../lib/utils/otplease.js': (opts, fn) => {
     if (opts)
diff --git a/test/lib/repo.js b/test/lib/repo.js
index 7abda55ca28d0..9c22bbaea340b 100644
--- a/test/lib/repo.js
+++ b/test/lib/repo.js
@@ -108,10 +108,9 @@ const pacote = {
 
 // keep a tally of which urls got opened
 const opened = {}
-const openUrl = async (npm, url, errMsg, cb) => {
+const openUrl = async (npm, url, errMsg) => {
   opened[url] = opened[url] || 0
   opened[url]++
-  process.nextTick(cb)
 }
 
 const Repo = requireInject('../../lib/repo.js', {