diff --git a/t/t5601-clone.sh b/t/t5601-clone.sh
index ee7ace0ff234d7..20c63b2f8409f9 100755
--- a/t/t5601-clone.sh
+++ b/t/t5601-clone.sh
@@ -7,6 +7,16 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+# This test script contains test cases that need to create symbolic links. To
+# make sure that these test cases are exercised in Git for Windows, where (for
+# historical reasons) `ln -s` creates copies by default, let's specifically ask
+# for `ln -s` to create symbolic links whenever possible.
+if test_have_prereq MINGW
+then
+	MSYS=${MSYS+$MSYS }winsymlinks:nativestrict
+	export MSYS
+fi
+
 X=
 test_have_prereq !MINGW || X=.exe
 
diff --git a/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh b/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
index dae87090e02ea5..313e027170992f 100755
--- a/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
+++ b/t/t7406-submodule-update.sh
@@ -14,6 +14,15 @@ export GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_INITIAL_BRANCH_NAME
 
 . ./test-lib.sh
 
+# This test script contains test cases that need to create symbolic links. To
+# make sure that these test cases are exercised in Git for Windows, where (for
+# historical reasons) `ln -s` creates copies by default, let's specifically ask
+# for `ln -s` to create symbolic links whenever possible.
+if test_have_prereq MINGW
+then
+	MSYS=${MSYS+$MSYS }winsymlinks:nativestrict
+	export MSYS
+fi
 
 compare_head()
 {