diff --git a/t/t1301-shared-repo.sh b/t/t1301-shared-repo.sh
index 84bf1970d8..93a2f91f8a 100755
--- a/t/t1301-shared-repo.sh
+++ b/t/t1301-shared-repo.sh
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ done
 test_expect_success 'shared=all' '
 	mkdir sub &&
 	cd sub &&
-	git init --shared=all &&
+	git init --template= --shared=all &&
 	test 2 = $(git config core.sharedrepository)
 '
 
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ test_expect_success POSIXPERM 'update-server-info honors core.sharedRepository'
 	git add a1 &&
 	test_tick &&
 	git commit -m a1 &&
+	mkdir .git/info &&
 	umask 0277 &&
 	git update-server-info &&
 	actual="$(ls -l .git/info/refs)" &&
diff --git a/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh b/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
index f0d9cd584d..3ca621f33b 100755
--- a/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
+++ b/t/t5550-http-fetch-dumb.sh
@@ -422,7 +422,8 @@ test_expect_success 'set up evil alternates scheme' '
 	sha1=$(git -C "$victim" rev-parse HEAD) &&
 
 	evil=$HTTPD_DOCUMENT_ROOT_PATH/evil.git &&
-	git init --bare "$evil" &&
+	git init --template= --bare "$evil" &&
+	mkdir "$evil/info" &&
 	# do this by hand to avoid object existence check
 	printf "%s\\t%s\\n" $sha1 refs/heads/main >"$evil/info/refs"
 '