diff --git a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
index 5f7e1f268dc6..63e67963ca53 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/java/org/apache/solr/core/SolrCore.java
@@ -1993,6 +1993,11 @@ public static void verbose(Object... args) {
   /**
    * Get the request handler registered to a given name.
    *
+   * <p>A {@code null} handlerName resolves to the core's default request handler (whichever handler
+   * is aliased to the empty string, normally the one registered at "/select", or "standard" for
+   * legacy configs) rather than returning {@code null}; see {@link
+   * RequestHandlers#initHandlersFromConfig}.
+   *
    * <p>This function is thread safe.
    */
   public SolrRequestHandler getRequestHandler(String handlerName) {
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/BasicFunctionalityTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/BasicFunctionalityTest.java
index 9cb5f6ab3aac..ac1a824752f2 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/BasicFunctionalityTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/BasicFunctionalityTest.java
@@ -759,7 +759,7 @@ public void testNotLazyField() throws IOException {
 
     SolrQueryRequest req = req("q", "id:7777", "fl", "id,title,test_hlt");
     SolrQueryResponse rsp = new SolrQueryResponse();
-    core.execute(core.getRequestHandler(req.getParams().get(CommonParams.QT)), req, rsp);
+    core.execute(core.getRequestHandler(null), req, rsp);
 
     DocList dl = ((ResultContext) rsp.getResponse()).getDocList();
     Document d = req.getSearcher().getDocFetcher().doc(dl.iterator().nextDoc());
@@ -786,7 +786,7 @@ public void testLazyField() throws IOException {
     // initial request
     SolrQueryRequest req = req("q", "id:7777", "fl", "id,title");
     SolrQueryResponse rsp = new SolrQueryResponse();
-    core.execute(core.getRequestHandler(req.getParams().get(CommonParams.QT)), req, rsp);
+    core.execute(core.getRequestHandler(null), req, rsp);
 
     DocList dl = ((ResultContext) rsp.getResponse()).getDocList();
     DocIterator di = dl.iterator();
@@ -808,7 +808,7 @@ public void testLazyField() throws IOException {
     // followup request, different fl
     req = req("q", "id:7777", "fl", "id,test_hlt");
     rsp = new SolrQueryResponse();
-    core.execute(core.getRequestHandler(req.getParams().get(CommonParams.QT)), req, rsp);
+    core.execute(core.getRequestHandler(null), req, rsp);
 
     dl = ((ResultContext) rsp.getResponse()).getDocList();
     di = dl.iterator();
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/ConvertedLegacyTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/ConvertedLegacyTest.java
index 301e5d778bc6..4845f0a91a7f 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/ConvertedLegacyTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/ConvertedLegacyTest.java
@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@
 import org.apache.solr.common.params.MultiMapSolrParams;
 import org.apache.solr.common.params.SolrParams;
 import org.apache.solr.request.SolrQueryRequest;
-import org.apache.solr.request.SolrQueryRequestBase;
 import org.apache.solr.util.ErrorLogMuter;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.Test;
@@ -61,8 +60,7 @@ public void testABunchOfConvertedStuff() {
     assertU("<commit/>");
     assertQ(req("val_s:[a TO z]"), "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=3] ", "//*[@start='0']");
     args = new HashMap<>();
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 2, 5, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 2, 5, args));
     assertQ(
         req,
         "//*[@numFound='3'] ",
@@ -70,54 +68,42 @@ public void testABunchOfConvertedStuff() {
         "*//doc[1]/str[.='pear'] ",
         "//*[@start='2']");
     args = new HashMap<>();
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 3, 5, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 3, 5, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=0]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 4, 5, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 4, 5, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=0]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 25, 5, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 25, 5, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=0]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 0, 1, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 0, 1, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=1] ", "*//doc[1]/str[.='apple']");
     args = new HashMap<>();
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 0, 2, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 0, 2, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=2] ", "*//doc[2]/str[.='banana']");
     args = new HashMap<>();
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 1, 1, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 1, 1, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=1] ", "*//doc[1]/str[.='banana']");
     args = new HashMap<>();
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 3, 1, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 3, 1, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=0]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 4, 1, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 4, 1, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=0]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 1, 0, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 1, 0, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=0]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 0, 0, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 0, 0, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=0]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("sort", "val_s1 asc");
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 0, 0, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 0, 0, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=0]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("sort", "val_s1 desc");
-    req =
-        new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", "/select", 0, 0, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("val_s:[a TO z]", 0, 0, args));
     assertQ(req, "//*[@numFound='3'] ", "*[count(//doc)=0]");
     assertQ(req("val_s:[a TO b]"), "//*[@numFound='1']");
     assertQ(req("val_s:[a TO cat]"), "//*[@numFound='2']");
@@ -776,18 +762,18 @@ public void testABunchOfConvertedStuff() {
     assertQ(req("id:44"));
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("fl", "fname_s,arr_f  ");
-    req = new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("id:44", "/select", 0, 10, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("id:44", 0, 10, args));
     assertQ(req, "//str[.='Yonik']  ", "//float[.='1.4142135']");
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("fl", "fname_s,score");
-    req = new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("id:44", "/select", 0, 10, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("id:44", 0, 10, args));
     assertQ(req, "//str[.='Yonik']", "//float[@name='score' and . > 0]");
 
     // test addition of score field
 
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("fl", "score,* ");
-    req = new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("id:44", "/select", 0, 10, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("id:44", 0, 10, args));
     assertQ(
         req,
         "//str[.='Yonik']  ",
@@ -796,7 +782,7 @@ public void testABunchOfConvertedStuff() {
         "*[count(//doc/*)>=13]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("fl", "*,score ");
-    req = new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("id:44", "/select", 0, 10, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("id:44", 0, 10, args));
     assertQ(
         req,
         "//str[.='Yonik']  ",
@@ -805,33 +791,33 @@ public void testABunchOfConvertedStuff() {
         "*[count(//doc/*)>=13]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("fl", "* ");
-    req = new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("id:44", "/select", 0, 10, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("id:44", 0, 10, args));
     assertQ(req, "//str[.='Yonik']  ", "//float[.='1.4142135'] ", "*[count(//doc/*)>=12]");
 
     // test maxScore
 
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("fl", "score ");
-    req = new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("id:44", "/select", 0, 10, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("id:44", 0, 10, args));
     assertQ(req, "//result[@maxScore>0]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("fl", "score ");
     args.put("sort", "id desc");
-    req = new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("id:44", "/select", 0, 10, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("id:44", 0, 10, args));
     assertQ(req, "//result[@maxScore>0]");
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("fl", "score ");
-    req = new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("id:44", "/select", 0, 10, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("id:44", 0, 10, args));
     assertQ(req, "//@maxScore = //doc/float[@name='score']");
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("fl", "score ");
     args.put("sort", "id desc");
-    req = new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("id:44", "/select", 0, 10, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("id:44", 0, 10, args));
     assertQ(req, "//@maxScore = //doc/float[@name='score']");
     args = new HashMap<>();
     args.put("fl", "*,score");
     args.put("sort", "id desc");
-    req = new SolrQueryRequestBase(h.getCore(), makeParams("id:44", "/select", 0, 0, args));
+    req = reqWithPath("/select", makeParams("id:44", 0, 0, args));
     assertQ(req, "//result[@maxScore>0]");
 
     //  test schema field attribute inheritance and overriding
@@ -908,18 +894,16 @@ public void testABunchOfConvertedStuff() {
 
   /**
    * Utility method to build SolrParams from individual query components. This is a convenience
-   * method for legacy code that needs to construct params from separate query, qtype, start, limit,
-   * and additional args.
+   * method for legacy code that needs to construct params from separate query, start, limit, and
+   * additional args.
    *
    * @param query the query string (added as "q" param)
-   * @param qtype the query type (added as "qt" param)
    * @param start the start offset (added as "start" param)
    * @param limit the row limit (added as "rows" param)
    * @param args additional parameters as a map
    * @return SolrParams containing all the specified parameters
    */
-  public static SolrParams makeParams(
-      String query, String qtype, int start, int limit, Map<?, ?> args) {
+  public static SolrParams makeParams(String query, int start, int limit, Map<?, ?> args) {
     Map<String, String[]> map = new HashMap<>();
     for (Map.Entry<?, ?> e : args.entrySet()) {
       String k = e.getKey().toString();
@@ -928,7 +912,6 @@ public static SolrParams makeParams(
       else map.put(k, new String[] {v.toString()});
     }
     if (query != null) map.put(CommonParams.Q, new String[] {query});
-    if (qtype != null) map.put(CommonParams.QT, new String[] {qtype});
     map.put(CommonParams.START, new String[] {Integer.toString(start)});
     map.put(CommonParams.ROWS, new String[] {Integer.toString(limit)});
     return new MultiMapSolrParams(map);
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestGroupingSearch.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestGroupingSearch.java
index 0f4d51b936c8..4ae2b55becbb 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestGroupingSearch.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/TestGroupingSearch.java
@@ -430,8 +430,7 @@ public void testGroupingSimpleFormatArrayIndexOutOfBoundsExceptionWithJavaBin()
     ByteArrayOutputStream out = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
     try {
       SolrRequestInfo.setRequestInfo(new SolrRequestInfo(request, response));
-      String handlerName = request.getParams().get(CommonParams.QT);
-      h.getCore().execute(h.getCore().getRequestHandler(handlerName), request, response);
+      h.getCore().execute(h.getCore().getRequestHandler(null), request, response);
       JavaBinResponseWriter responseWriter = new JavaBinResponseWriter();
       responseWriter.write(out, request, response);
     } finally {
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/DistribCursorPagingTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/DistribCursorPagingTest.java
index b6452a5e61e4..767fda282303 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/DistribCursorPagingTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/DistribCursorPagingTest.java
@@ -595,7 +595,6 @@ public void doRandomSortsOnLargeIndex() throws Exception {
             assertFullWalkNoDupsElevated(
                 wrapDefaults(
                     params(
-                        "qt", "/elevate",
                         "fl", "id,[elevated]",
                         "forceElevation", "true",
                         "elevateIds", "50,20,80"),
@@ -649,8 +648,6 @@ public void doRandomSortsOnLargeIndex() throws Exception {
           assertFullWalkNoDupsElevated(
               wrapDefaults(
                   params(
-                      "qt",
-                      "/elevate",
                       "fl",
                       fl + ",[elevated]",
                       // HACK: work around SOLR-15307... same results should match, just not same
@@ -782,6 +779,7 @@ public SentinelIntSet assertFullWalkNoDupsElevated(
     final SentinelIntSet idsElevated = new SentinelIntSet(32, -1);
 
     assertFullWalkNoDups(
+        "/elevate",
         params,
         (doc) -> {
           final int id = Integer.parseInt(doc.get("id").toString());
@@ -883,8 +881,16 @@ public SentinelIntSet assertFullWalkNoDups(int maxSize, SolrParams params) throw
    */
   public void assertFullWalkNoDups(SolrParams params, Consumer<SolrDocument> consumer)
       throws Exception {
+    assertFullWalkNoDups("/select", params, consumer);
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * Identical to {@link #assertFullWalkNoDups(SolrParams,Consumer)}, but dispatches the query to
+   * the specified request handler path.
+   */
+  public void assertFullWalkNoDups(
+      String requestHandler, SolrParams params, Consumer<SolrDocument> consumer) throws Exception {
 
-    final String requestHandler = params.get(CommonParams.QT, "/select");
     String cursorMark = CURSOR_MARK_START;
     int docsOnThisPage = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
     while (0 < docsOnThisPage) {
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/ShardRoutingTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/ShardRoutingTest.java
index cf12d1d18f5a..d30536826208 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/ShardRoutingTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/ShardRoutingTest.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.request.UpdateRequest;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.response.QueryResponse;
 import org.apache.solr.common.params.ShardParams;
+import org.apache.solr.common.util.StrUtils;
 import org.apache.solr.embedded.JettySolrRunner;
 import org.apache.solr.util.ServletFixtures;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
@@ -351,7 +352,9 @@ void doAddDoc(String id) throws Exception {
   }
 
   void doRTG(String ids) throws Exception {
-    doQuery(ids, "qt", "/get", "ids", ids);
+    final var expectedIds = StrUtils.splitSmart(ids, ",", true);
+    final var request = new QueryRequest("/get", params("ids", ids));
+    doQuery(expectedIds, request);
   }
 
   // TODO: refactor some of this stuff into the SolrJ client... it should be easier to use
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/TestTlogReplayVsRecovery.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/TestTlogReplayVsRecovery.java
index f41cfb8a72d2..af90ea36ee3e 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/TestTlogReplayVsRecovery.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/cloud/TestTlogReplayVsRecovery.java
@@ -277,7 +277,7 @@ private void assertDocExists(final String clientName, final SolrClient client, f
                     SolrRequest.METHOD.GET,
                     "/get",
                     SolrRequestType.QUERY,
-                    params("qt", "/get", "id", docId, "_trace", clientName, "distrib", "false"))
+                    params("id", docId, "_trace", clientName, "distrib", "false"))
                 .setRequiresCollection(true))
             .process(client, COLLECTION);
 
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/response/TestJavaBinResponseWriter.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/response/TestJavaBinResponseWriter.java
index 48d990562923..4d12f208415f 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/response/TestJavaBinResponseWriter.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/response/TestJavaBinResponseWriter.java
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
 import org.apache.solr.SolrTestCaseJ4;
 import org.apache.solr.common.SolrDocument;
 import org.apache.solr.common.SolrDocumentList;
-import org.apache.solr.common.params.CommonParams;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.ByteUtils;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.JavaBinCodec;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.NamedList;
@@ -72,8 +71,8 @@ public void testUUID() throws Exception {
     String s = UUID.randomUUID().toString().toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT);
     assertU(adoc("id", "101", "uuid", s));
     assertU(commit());
-    SolrQueryRequestBase req = lrf.makeRequest("q", "*:*");
-    SolrQueryResponse rsp = h.queryAndResponse(req.getParams().get(CommonParams.QT), req);
+    SolrQueryRequest req = withPath("/select", lrf.makeRequest("q", "*:*"));
+    SolrQueryResponse rsp = h.queryAndResponse(req);
     ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
     h.getCore().getQueryResponseWriter("javabin").write(baos, req, rsp);
     NamedList<?> res;
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/response/transform/TestSubQueryTransformer.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/response/transform/TestSubQueryTransformer.java
index b325b6f959e3..2a23681aab64 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/response/transform/TestSubQueryTransformer.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/response/transform/TestSubQueryTransformer.java
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
 import org.apache.solr.common.SolrDocument;
 import org.apache.solr.common.SolrDocumentList;
 import org.apache.solr.common.SolrException.ErrorCode;
-import org.apache.solr.common.params.CommonParams;
 import org.apache.solr.common.params.ModifiableSolrParams;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.JavaBinCodec;
 import org.apache.solr.common.util.NamedList;
@@ -614,7 +613,7 @@ public void testJustJohnJson() throws Exception {
   @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
   @Test
   public void testJustJohnJavabin() throws Exception {
-    final SolrQueryRequest johnTwoFL = req(johnAndNancyParams);
+    final SolrQueryRequest johnTwoFL = reqWithPath("/select", johnAndNancyParams);
     ModifiableSolrParams params = new ModifiableSolrParams(johnTwoFL.getParams());
     params.set("q", "name_s:john");
     params.set("wt", "javabin");
@@ -626,8 +625,7 @@ public void testJustJohnJavabin() throws Exception {
     SolrQueryResponse rsp = new SolrQueryResponse();
     SolrRequestInfo.setRequestInfo(new SolrRequestInfo(johnTwoFL, rsp));
 
-    SolrQueryResponse response =
-        h.queryAndResponse(johnTwoFL.getParams().get(CommonParams.QT), johnTwoFL);
+    SolrQueryResponse response = h.queryAndResponse(null, johnTwoFL);
 
     ByteArrayOutputStream bytes = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
     johnTwoFL.getResponseWriter().write(bytes, johnTwoFL, response);
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/schema/EnumFieldTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/schema/EnumFieldTest.java
index 4bf3f14b8b14..1899655c4ce1 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/schema/EnumFieldTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/schema/EnumFieldTest.java
@@ -681,7 +681,8 @@ public void testFacetEnumSearch() throws Exception {
         "//*[@name='buckets']/lst[long[@name='count'][.='1']][str[@name='val'][.='High']]");
 
     try (SolrQueryRequest req =
-        req(
+        reqWithPath(
+            "/select",
             "fl",
             "" + FIELD_NAME,
             "q",
@@ -690,7 +691,7 @@ public void testFacetEnumSearch() throws Exception {
             jsonFacetParam,
             "wt",
             "json")) {
-      SolrQueryResponse rsp = h.queryAndResponse(req.getParams().get(CommonParams.QT), req);
+      SolrQueryResponse rsp = h.queryAndResponse(req);
       List<NamedList<?>> buckets =
           (List<NamedList<?>>)
               ((NamedList<?>) ((NamedList<?>) rsp.getValues().get("facets")).get("severity"))
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/CacheHeaderTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/CacheHeaderTest.java
index a3ee69b0910c..990875263391 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/CacheHeaderTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/CacheHeaderTest.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public static void beforeTest() throws Exception {
 
   @Test
   public void testCacheVetoException() throws Exception {
-    String url = getSelectUrl("q", "xyz_ignore_exception:solr", "qt", "standard");
+    String url = getSelectUrl("q", "xyz_ignore_exception:solr");
     // We force an exception from Solr. This should emit "no-cache" HTTP headers
     ContentResponse response = getHttpClient().GET(url);
     assertNotEquals(200, response.getStatus());
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/CacheHeaderTestBase.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/CacheHeaderTestBase.java
index 3b6a331970bc..1f60da879dc3 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/CacheHeaderTestBase.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/CacheHeaderTestBase.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ protected String getSelectUrl(String... params) {
     sb.append("/select?");
 
     if (params.length == 0) {
-      sb.append("q=solr&qt=standard");
+      sb.append("q=solr");
     } else {
       for (int i = 0; i < params.length / 2; i++) {
         if (i > 0) sb.append("&");
diff --git a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/SolrRequestParserTest.java b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/SolrRequestParserTest.java
index f1e16e46dc46..eb834a180e96 100644
--- a/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/SolrRequestParserTest.java
+++ b/solr/core/src/test/org/apache/solr/servlet/SolrRequestParserTest.java
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ public void testUrlParamParsing() {
 
   @Test
   public void testStandardParseParamsAndFillStreams() throws Exception {
-    final String getParams = "qt=%C3%BC&dup=foo", postParams = "q=hello&d%75p=bar";
+    final String getParams = "misc=%C3%BC&dup=foo", postParams = "q=hello&d%75p=bar";
     final byte[] postBytes = postParams.getBytes(StandardCharsets.US_ASCII);
 
     // Set up the expected behavior
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ public void testStandardParseParamsAndFillStreams() throws Exception {
       SolrParams p = standard.parseParamsAndFillStreams(request, new ArrayList<ContentStream>());
 
       assertEquals("contentType: " + contentType, "hello", p.get("q"));
-      assertEquals("contentType: " + contentType, "\u00FC", p.get("qt"));
+      assertEquals("contentType: " + contentType, "\u00FC", p.get("misc"));
       assertArrayEquals(
           "contentType: " + contentType, new String[] {"foo", "bar"}, p.getParams("dup"));
 
@@ -202,8 +202,8 @@ public int read() throws IOException {
 
   @Test
   public void testStandardParseParamsAndFillStreamsISO88591() throws Exception {
-    final String getParams = "qt=%FC&dup=foo&ie=iso-8859-1&dup=%FC",
-        postParams = "qt2=%FC&q=hello&d%75p=bar";
+    final String getParams = "misc=%FC&dup=foo&ie=iso-8859-1&dup=%FC",
+        postParams = "misc2=%FC&q=hello&d%75p=bar";
     final byte[] postBytes = postParams.getBytes(StandardCharsets.US_ASCII);
     final String contentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded; charset=iso-8859-1";
 
@@ -221,8 +221,8 @@ public void testStandardParseParamsAndFillStreamsISO88591() throws Exception {
     SolrParams p = standard.parseParamsAndFillStreams(request, new ArrayList<ContentStream>());
 
     assertEquals("contentType: " + contentType, "hello", p.get("q"));
-    assertEquals("contentType: " + contentType, "\u00FC", p.get("qt"));
-    assertEquals("contentType: " + contentType, "\u00FC", p.get("qt2"));
+    assertEquals("contentType: " + contentType, "\u00FC", p.get("misc"));
+    assertEquals("contentType: " + contentType, "\u00FC", p.get("misc2"));
     assertArrayEquals(
         "contentType: " + contentType, new String[] {"foo", "\u00FC", "bar"}, p.getParams("dup"));
 
diff --git a/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/AbstractFullDistribZkTestBase.java b/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/AbstractFullDistribZkTestBase.java
index 20ca82790836..56227abba3eb 100644
--- a/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/AbstractFullDistribZkTestBase.java
+++ b/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/cloud/AbstractFullDistribZkTestBase.java
@@ -71,6 +71,7 @@
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.response.CoreAdminResponse;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.response.QueryResponse;
 import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.response.RequestStatusState;
+import org.apache.solr.client.solrj.response.SimpleSolrResponse;
 import org.apache.solr.cloud.ZkController.NotInClusterStateException;
 import org.apache.solr.cloud.api.collections.CollectionHandlingUtils;
 import org.apache.solr.common.SolrDocument;
@@ -1409,10 +1410,10 @@ protected void checkQueries() throws Exception {
     handle.put("response", UNORDERED); // get?ids=a,b,c requests are unordered
     String ids = "987654";
     for (int i = 0; i < 20; i++) {
-      query("qt", "/get", "id", Integer.toString(i));
-      query("qt", "/get", "ids", Integer.toString(i));
+      query("/get", params("id", Integer.toString(i)));
+      query("/get", params("ids", Integer.toString(i)));
       ids = ids + ',' + Integer.toString(i);
-      query("qt", "/get", "ids", ids);
+      query("/get", params("ids", ids));
     }
     handle.remove("response");
 
@@ -2179,6 +2180,18 @@ void doQuery(String expectedDocs, String... queryParams) throws Exception {
     assertEquals(expectedIds, obtainedIds);
   }
 
+  void doQuery(Collection<String> expectedIds, QueryRequest request) throws Exception {
+    Set<String> expectedIdSet = new HashSet<>(expectedIds);
+
+    QueryResponse rsp = request.process(cloudClient);
+    Set<String> obtainedIds = new HashSet<>();
+    for (SolrDocument doc : rsp.getResults()) {
+      obtainedIds.add((String) doc.get("id"));
+    }
+
+    assertEquals(expectedIdSet, obtainedIds);
+  }
+
   @Override
   public void distribTearDown() throws Exception {
     try {
@@ -3002,10 +3015,12 @@ protected long getIndexVersion(Replica replica) throws IOException {
             .withDefaultCollection(replica.getCoreName())
             .build()) {
       ModifiableSolrParams params = new ModifiableSolrParams();
-      params.set("qt", "/replication");
       params.set(ReplicationHandler.COMMAND, ReplicationHandler.CMD_SHOW_COMMITS);
       try {
-        QueryResponse response = client.query(params);
+        SimpleSolrResponse response =
+            new GenericSolrRequest(METHOD.GET, "/replication", params)
+                .setRequiresCollection(true)
+                .process(client);
         @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
         List<NamedList<Object>> commits =
             (List<NamedList<Object>>)
@@ -3052,10 +3067,12 @@ protected void logReplicationDetails(Replica replica, StringBuilder builder) thr
             .withDefaultCollection(replica.getCoreName())
             .build()) {
       ModifiableSolrParams params = new ModifiableSolrParams();
-      params.set("qt", "/replication");
       params.set(ReplicationHandler.COMMAND, ReplicationHandler.CMD_DETAILS);
       try {
-        QueryResponse response = client.query(params);
+        SimpleSolrResponse response =
+            new GenericSolrRequest(METHOD.GET, "/replication", params)
+                .setRequiresCollection(true)
+                .process(client);
         builder.append(
             String.format(
                 Locale.ROOT,
diff --git a/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/TestHarness.java b/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/TestHarness.java
index f0808526c0da..f76dcc9c3b0b 100644
--- a/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/TestHarness.java
+++ b/solr/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/solr/util/TestHarness.java
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
  */
 package org.apache.solr.util;
 
+import static org.apache.solr.SolrTestCaseJ4.withPath;
+
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.HashMap;
@@ -343,13 +345,25 @@ public String query(String handler, SolrQueryRequest req) throws Exception {
   /**
    * It is the users responsibility to close the request object when done with it. This method does
    * not set/clear SolrRequestInfo
+   *
+   * @deprecated use {@link #queryAndResponse(SolrQueryRequest)} instead, ensuring that
+   *     SolrQueryRequest has a valid path
    */
+  @Deprecated
   public SolrQueryResponse queryAndResponse(String handler, SolrQueryRequest req) throws Exception {
+    return queryAndResponse(withPath(handler, req));
+  }
+
+  /**
+   * It is the users responsibility to close the request object when done with it. This method does
+   * not set/clear SolrRequestInfo
+   */
+  public SolrQueryResponse queryAndResponse(SolrQueryRequest req) throws Exception {
     try (var mdcSnap = MDCSnapshot.create();
         SolrCore core = getCoreInc()) {
       assert null != mdcSnap; // prevent compiler warning of unused var
       SolrQueryResponse rsp = new SolrQueryResponse();
-      core.execute(core.getRequestHandler(handler), req, rsp);
+      core.execute(core.getRequestHandler(req.getPath()), req, rsp);
       if (rsp.getException() != null) {
         throw rsp.getException();
       }