diff --git a/__tests__/daemon-registry.test.ts b/__tests__/daemon-registry.test.ts
index f430983a8..be47f79b4 100644
--- a/__tests__/daemon-registry.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/daemon-registry.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { describe, it, expect, beforeEach, afterEach, onTestFinished, vi } from 'vitest';
+import { describe, it, expect, beforeAll, afterAll, beforeEach, afterEach, onTestFinished, vi } from 'vitest';
 import { execFileSync, spawn } from 'child_process';
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as net from 'net';
@@ -60,6 +60,22 @@ function startDetachedProcess(): number {
   return pid;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Same allowance daemon-lock-holder.test.ts makes: each OS lookup gets a
+ * minute, not the 5 s production default — on a loaded runner PowerShell can
+ * take longer to start, and a timed-out Windows lookup returns no command
+ * line, flipping 'not-running' verdicts to 'unverified'.
+ */
+const LOOKUP_ENV = 'CODEGRAPH_PROCESS_LOOKUP_TIMEOUT_MS';
+const savedLookupTimeout = process.env[LOOKUP_ENV];
+beforeAll(() => {
+  process.env[LOOKUP_ENV] = '60000';
+});
+afterAll(() => {
+  if (savedLookupTimeout === undefined) delete process.env[LOOKUP_ENV];
+  else process.env[LOOKUP_ENV] = savedLookupTimeout;
+});
+
 describe('daemon-registry', () => {
   let tmpHome: string;
   let prevHome: string | undefined;
diff --git a/__tests__/mcp-daemon.test.ts b/__tests__/mcp-daemon.test.ts
index 6fc3cec73..8be3edfd6 100644
--- a/__tests__/mcp-daemon.test.ts
+++ b/__tests__/mcp-daemon.test.ts
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
  * end is itself the proof the canonicalization works.
  */
 
-import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
+import { afterAll, afterEach, beforeAll, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 import { ChildProcessWithoutNullStreams, spawn } from 'child_process';
 import * as fs from 'fs';
 import * as net from 'net';
@@ -265,6 +265,21 @@ async function staleIndex(root: string): Promise<Buffer> {
   return before;
 }
 
+/**
+ * Same allowance daemon-lock-holder.test.ts makes: each OS lookup gets a
+ * minute, not the 5 s production default — on a loaded runner PowerShell can
+ * take longer to start, and lookups time out while handovers wait on them.
+ */
+const LOOKUP_ENV = 'CODEGRAPH_PROCESS_LOOKUP_TIMEOUT_MS';
+const savedLookupTimeout = process.env[LOOKUP_ENV];
+beforeAll(() => {
+  process.env[LOOKUP_ENV] = '60000';
+});
+afterAll(() => {
+  if (savedLookupTimeout === undefined) delete process.env[LOOKUP_ENV];
+  else process.env[LOOKUP_ENV] = savedLookupTimeout;
+});
+
 describe('Shared MCP daemon (issue #411)', () => {
   let tempDir: string;   // the (possibly symlinked) path processes are spawned with
   let realRoot: string;  // its canonical form — what the daemon keys paths on