diff --git a/dvc/repo/ls_url.py b/dvc/repo/ls_url.py
index 7f211678f..e9b0e551f 100644
--- a/dvc/repo/ls_url.py
+++ b/dvc/repo/ls_url.py
@@ -2,14 +2,16 @@ from dvc.exceptions import URLMissingError
 from dvc.fs import get_cloud_fs
 
 
-def parse_external_url(url):
-    fs_cls, fs_config, fs_path = get_cloud_fs(None, url=url)
+def parse_external_url(url, config=None):
+    remote_config = dict(config) if config else {}
+    remote_config["url"] = url
+    fs_cls, fs_config, fs_path = get_cloud_fs(None, **remote_config)
     fs = fs_cls(**fs_config)
     return fs, fs_path
 
 
-def ls_url(url, recursive=False):
-    fs, fs_path = parse_external_url(url)
+def ls_url(url, config=None, recursive=False):
+    fs, fs_path = parse_external_url(url, config=config)
     return _ls_url(fs, fs_path, orig_url=url, recursive=recursive)
 
 
diff --git a/dvc/testing/tmp_dir.py b/dvc/testing/tmp_dir.py
index f90066167..ea4cd0d77 100644
--- a/dvc/testing/tmp_dir.py
+++ b/dvc/testing/tmp_dir.py
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ import sys
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from functools import partialmethod
 
-from dvc.fs import LocalFileSystem
 from dvc.utils import serialize
 from dvc.utils.fs import makedirs
 
@@ -71,10 +70,6 @@ class TmpDir(pathlib.Path):
     def config(self):
         return {"url": self.url}
 
-    @property
-    def fs(self):
-        return LocalFileSystem(**self.config)
-
     def __new__(cls, *args, **kwargs):
         if cls is TmpDir:
             cls = (  # pylint: disable=self-cls-assignment
diff --git a/dvc/testing/workspace_tests.py b/dvc/testing/workspace_tests.py
index f9dde1911..715ffb556 100644
--- a/dvc/testing/workspace_tests.py
+++ b/dvc/testing/workspace_tests.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import os
 import pytest
 
 from dvc.exceptions import URLMissingError
-from dvc.repo.ls_url import _ls_url
+from dvc.repo.ls_url import ls_url, parse_external_url
 
 
 class TestImport:
@@ -153,21 +153,20 @@ class TestLsUrl:
     @pytest.mark.parametrize("fname", ["foo", "foo.dvc", "dir/foo"])
     def test_file(self, cloud, fname):
         cloud.gen({fname: "foo contents"})
-        fs = cloud.fs
-        fs_path = fs.path.join(cloud.fs_path, fname)
-
-        result = _ls_url(fs, fs_path)
-
-        match_files(fs, result, [{"path": fs_path, "isdir": False}])
+        fs, fs_path = parse_external_url(cloud.url, cloud.config)
+        result = ls_url(str(cloud / fname), cloud.config)
+        match_files(
+            fs,
+            result,
+            [{"path": fs.path.join(fs_path, fname), "isdir": False}],
+        )
 
     def test_dir(self, cloud):
         cloud.gen(
             {"dir/foo": "foo contents", "dir/subdir/bar": "bar contents"}
         )
-        fs = cloud.fs
-        fs_path = fs.path.join(cloud.fs_path, "dir")
-
-        result = _ls_url(fs, fs_path)
+        fs, _ = parse_external_url(cloud.url, cloud.config)
+        result = ls_url(str(cloud / "dir"), cloud.config)
         match_files(
             fs,
             result,
@@ -181,11 +180,8 @@ class TestLsUrl:
         cloud.gen(
             {"dir/foo": "foo contents", "dir/subdir/bar": "bar contents"}
         )
-        fs = cloud.fs
-        fs_path = fs.path.join(cloud.fs_path, "dir")
-
-        result = _ls_url(fs, fs_path, recursive=True)
-
+        fs, _ = parse_external_url(cloud.url, cloud.config)
+        result = ls_url(str(cloud / "dir"), cloud.config, recursive=True)
         match_files(
             fs,
             result,
@@ -196,7 +192,5 @@ class TestLsUrl:
         )
 
     def test_nonexistent(self, cloud):
-        fs = cloud.fs
-        fs_path = fs.path.join(cloud.fs_path, "nonexistent")
         with pytest.raises(URLMissingError):
-            _ls_url(fs, fs_path)
+            ls_url(str(cloud / "dir"), cloud.config)