diff --git a/.github/workflows/main.yml b/.github/workflows/main.yml
index 916a64b673..9301a1edd6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/main.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/main.yml
@@ -113,13 +113,15 @@ jobs:
       cancel-in-progress: ${{ needs.ci-config.outputs.skip_concurrent == 'yes' }}
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-    - uses: git-for-windows/setup-git-for-windows-sdk@v1
+    - name: setup SDK
+      shell: powershell
+      run: ci/install-sdk.ps1
     - name: build
-      shell: bash
+      shell: powershell
       env:
         HOME: ${{runner.workspace}}
         NO_PERL: 1
-      run: . /etc/profile && ci/make-test-artifacts.sh artifacts
+      run: git-sdk/usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c 'ci/make-test-artifacts.sh artifacts'
     - name: zip up tracked files
       run: git archive -o artifacts/tracked.tar.gz HEAD
     - name: upload tracked files and build artifacts
@@ -147,10 +149,12 @@ jobs:
     - name: extract tracked files and build artifacts
       shell: bash
       run: tar xf artifacts.tar.gz && tar xf tracked.tar.gz
-    - uses: git-for-windows/setup-git-for-windows-sdk@v1
+    - name: setup SDK
+      shell: powershell
+      run: ci/install-sdk.ps1
     - name: test
-      shell: bash
-      run: . /etc/profile && ci/run-test-slice.sh ${{matrix.nr}} 10
+      shell: powershell
+      run: git-sdk/usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c 'ci/run-test-slice.sh ${{matrix.nr}} 10'
     - name: print test failures
       if: failure() && env.FAILED_TEST_ARTIFACTS != ''
       shell: bash
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 4abfbc3e20..526ecfe030 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,6 +1,11 @@
 default:
   timeout: 2h
 
+stages:
+  - build
+  - test
+  - analyze
+
 workflow:
   rules:
     - if: $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"
@@ -9,6 +14,8 @@ workflow:
 
 test:linux:
   image: $image
+  stage: test
+  needs: [ ]
   tags:
     - saas-linux-medium-amd64
   variables:
@@ -67,6 +74,8 @@ test:linux:
 
 test:osx:
   image: $image
+  stage: test
+  needs: [ ]
   tags:
     - saas-macos-medium-m1
   variables:
@@ -100,8 +109,42 @@ test:osx:
       - t/failed-test-artifacts
     when: on_failure
 
+build:mingw64:
+  stage: build
+  tags:
+    - saas-windows-medium-amd64
+  variables:
+    NO_PERL: 1
+  before_script:
+    - ./ci/install-sdk.ps1 -directory "git-sdk"
+  script:
+    - git-sdk/usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c 'ci/make-test-artifacts.sh artifacts'
+  artifacts:
+    paths:
+      - artifacts
+      - git-sdk
+
+test:mingw64:
+  stage: test
+  tags:
+    - saas-windows-medium-amd64
+  needs:
+    - job: "build:mingw64"
+      artifacts: true
+  before_script:
+    - git-sdk/usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c 'tar xf artifacts/artifacts.tar.gz'
+    - New-Item -Path .git/info -ItemType Directory
+    - New-Item .git/info/exclude -ItemType File -Value "/git-sdk"
+  script:
+    - git-sdk/usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c "ci/run-test-slice.sh $CI_NODE_INDEX $CI_NODE_TOTAL"
+  after_script:
+    - git-sdk/usr/bin/bash.exe -l -c 'ci/print-test-failures.sh'
+  parallel: 10
+
 test:fuzz-smoke-tests:
   image: ubuntu:latest
+  stage: test
+  needs: [ ]
   variables:
     CC: clang
   before_script:
@@ -111,6 +154,8 @@ test:fuzz-smoke-tests:
 
 static-analysis:
   image: ubuntu:22.04
+  stage: analyze
+  needs: [ ]
   variables:
     jobname: StaticAnalysis
   before_script:
@@ -121,6 +166,8 @@ static-analysis:
 
 check-whitespace:
   image: ubuntu:latest
+  stage: analyze
+  needs: [ ]
   before_script:
     - ./ci/install-dependencies.sh
   # Since $CI_MERGE_REQUEST_TARGET_BRANCH_SHA is only defined for merged
@@ -135,6 +182,8 @@ check-whitespace:
 
 check-style:
   image: ubuntu:latest
+  stage: analyze
+  needs: [ ]
   allow_failure: true
   variables:
     CC: clang
@@ -153,6 +202,8 @@ check-style:
 
 documentation:
   image: ubuntu:latest
+  stage: analyze
+  needs: [ ]
   variables:
     jobname: Documentation
   before_script:
diff --git a/ci/install-sdk.ps1 b/ci/install-sdk.ps1
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..66f24838a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/install-sdk.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+param(
+    [string]$directory='git-sdk',
+    [string]$url='https://github.com/git-for-windows/git-sdk-64/releases/download/ci-artifacts/git-sdk-x86_64-minimal.zip'
+)
+
+Invoke-WebRequest "$url" -OutFile git-sdk.zip
+Expand-Archive -LiteralPath git-sdk.zip -DestinationPath "$directory"
+Remove-Item -Path git-sdk.zip
+
+New-Item -Path .git/info -ItemType Directory -Force
+New-Item -Path .git/info/exclude -ItemType File -Force
+Add-Content -Path .git/info/exclude -Value "/$directory"
diff --git a/ci/lib.sh b/ci/lib.sh
index 74b430be23..95f39a26ea 100755
--- a/ci/lib.sh
+++ b/ci/lib.sh
@@ -250,8 +250,13 @@ then
 	CI_TYPE=gitlab-ci
 	CI_BRANCH="$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME"
 	CI_COMMIT="$CI_COMMIT_SHA"
-	case "$CI_JOB_IMAGE" in
-	macos-*)
+
+	case "$OS,$CI_JOB_IMAGE" in
+	Windows_NT,*)
+		CI_OS_NAME=windows
+		JOBS=$NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS
+		;;
+	*,macos-*)
 		# GitLab CI has Python installed via multiple package managers,
 		# most notably via asdf and Homebrew. Ensure that our builds
 		# pick up the Homebrew one by prepending it to our PATH as the
@@ -259,9 +264,12 @@ then
 		export PATH="$(brew --prefix)/bin:$PATH"
 
 		CI_OS_NAME=osx
+		JOBS=$(nproc)
+		;;
+	*,alpine:*|*,fedora:*|*,ubuntu:*)
+		CI_OS_NAME=linux
+		JOBS=$(nproc)
 		;;
-	alpine:*|fedora:*|ubuntu:*)
-		CI_OS_NAME=linux;;
 	*)
 		echo "Could not identify OS image" >&2
 		env >&2
@@ -272,6 +280,7 @@ then
 	CI_JOB_ID="$CI_JOB_ID"
 	CC="${CC_PACKAGE:-${CC:-gcc}}"
 	DONT_SKIP_TAGS=t
+
 	handle_failed_tests () {
 		create_failed_test_artifacts
 		return 1
@@ -280,7 +289,6 @@ then
 	cache_dir="$HOME/none"
 
 	distro=$(echo "$CI_JOB_IMAGE" | tr : -)
-	JOBS=$(nproc)
 else
 	echo "Could not identify CI type" >&2
 	env >&2
diff --git a/t/t7300-clean.sh b/t/t7300-clean.sh
index 5c97eb0dfe..54fed91e39 100755
--- a/t/t7300-clean.sh
+++ b/t/t7300-clean.sh
@@ -747,7 +747,7 @@ test_expect_success MINGW 'handle clean & core.longpaths = false nicely' '
 	test_must_fail git clean -xdf 2>.git/err &&
 	# grepping for a strerror string is unportable but it is OK here with
 	# MINGW prereq
-	test_grep "too long" .git/err
+	test_grep -e "too long" -e "No such file or directory" .git/err
 '
 
 test_expect_success 'clean untracked paths by pathspec' '