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 ${{matrix.nr}} 10'
     - name: print test failures
       if: failure() && env.FAILED_TEST_ARTIFACTS != ''
       shell: bash
diff --git a/ci/install-sdk.ps1 b/ci/install-sdk.ps1
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..66f24838a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/install-sdk.ps1
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+param(
+    [string]$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"