diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index d0e4f72b4ca1a344af41f9d535fc7fc38a812ff5..22ea4e4e4751d3c2e519461755762af6d9a9c8d9 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,12 @@ before_build:
 - cd C:\projects\adios2
 - git reset --hard %APPVEYOR_PULL_REQUEST_HEAD_COMMIT%
 - ps: |
-    $env:CUSTOM_BUILD_NAME = ("{0}_{1}_vs{2}" -f $env:APPVEYOR_PULL_REQUEST_HEAD_REPO_BRANCH, $env:APPVEYOR_BUILD_NUMBER, $env:APPVEYOR_BUILD_WORKER_IMAGE.split()[2] )
+    if(Test-Path env:APPVEYOR_PULL_REQUEST_HEAD_REPO_BRANCH) {
+        $env:BUILD_NAME_BRANCH = $env:APPVEYOR_PULL_REQUEST_HEAD_REPO_BRANCH
+    } else {
+        $env:BUILD_NAME_BRANCH = $env:APPVEYOR_REPO_BRANCH
+    }
+    $env:CUSTOM_BUILD_NAME = ("{0}_{1}_vs{2}" -f $env:BUILD_NAME_BRANCH, $env:APPVEYOR_BUILD_NUMBER, $env:APPVEYOR_BUILD_WORKER_IMAGE.split()[2] )
 - ctest.exe -VV -S ../adios2/scripts\appveyor\av_default.cmake
     -Ddashboard_full=OFF
     -Ddashboard_do_update=true
diff --git a/scripts/appveyor/av_default.cmake b/scripts/appveyor/av_default.cmake
index 81ad4fbbb1c51f6eb0649f3b939f0bdbe54afd2d..13dc0645b71ae1ed024c34c10b3a0ccde78fd8df 100644
--- a/scripts/appveyor/av_default.cmake
+++ b/scripts/appveyor/av_default.cmake
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # Client maintainer: chuck.atkins@kitware.com
 set(CTEST_SITE "AppVeyor")
 set(CTEST_BUILD_CONFIGURATION Release)
-set(CTEST_CONFIGURATION_TYPE Release)
 set(CTEST_CMAKE_GENERATOR "Visual Studio 14 2015 Win64")
 set(CTEST_TEST_ARGS PARALLEL_LEVEL 4)
 
diff --git a/scripts/dashboard/common.cmake b/scripts/dashboard/common.cmake
index ac88d93726957d9728a67b9e0b1d6f81f42a3d2a..aa3649705e5fc695c27f5e36340e0756e0a9bb42 100644
--- a/scripts/dashboard/common.cmake
+++ b/scripts/dashboard/common.cmake
@@ -131,12 +131,15 @@ if(NOT "${dashboard_model}" MATCHES "^(Nightly|Experimental)$")
   message(FATAL_ERROR "dashboard_model must be Nightly or Experimental")
 endif()
 
-
 # Default to a Debug build.
 if(NOT DEFINED CTEST_BUILD_CONFIGURATION)
   set(CTEST_BUILD_CONFIGURATION Debug)
 endif()
 
+if(NOT DEFINED CTEST_CONFIGURATION_TYPE)
+  set(CTEST_CONFIGURATION_TYPE ${CTEST_BUILD_CONFIGURATION})
+endif()
+
 # Choose CTest reporting mode.
 if(NOT "${CTEST_CMAKE_GENERATOR}" MATCHES "Make|Ninja")
   # Launchers work only with Makefile and Ninja generators.