diff --git a/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh b/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
index 6575528f21..e19e036898 100755
--- a/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
+++ b/t/t0610-reftable-basics.sh
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ test_expect_success 'ref transaction: corrupted tables cause failure' '
 		test_commit file1 &&
 		for f in .git/reftable/*.ref
 		do
-			: >"$f" || return 1
+			test-tool truncate "$f" 0 || return 1
 		done &&
 		test_must_fail git update-ref refs/heads/main HEAD
 	)
diff --git a/t/t9700/test.pl b/t/t9700/test.pl
index 570b0c5680..f83e6169e2 100755
--- a/t/t9700/test.pl
+++ b/t/t9700/test.pl
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ unlink $tmpfile;
 
 # paths
 my $abs_git_dir = $abs_repo_dir . "/.git";
-if ($^O eq 'msys' or $^O eq 'cygwin') {
+if ($^O eq 'msys') {
   $abs_git_dir = `cygpath -am "$abs_repo_dir/.git"`;
   $abs_git_dir =~ s/\r?\n?$//;
 }