diff --git a/tests/browser/server.py b/tests/browser/server.py
index c446ed0..77dc0f4 100644
--- a/tests/browser/server.py
+++ b/tests/browser/server.py
@@ -583,8 +583,13 @@ def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> None:
     loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
     if args.exit_on_stdin_eof:
         exit_when_stdin_closes(loop)
+    original_cwd = os.getcwd()
     with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory(prefix="pm-browser-") as directory:
-        web.run_app(create_app(Path(directory).resolve()), sock=listener, loop=loop)
+        try:
+            web.run_app(create_app(Path(directory).resolve()), sock=listener, loop=loop)
+        finally:
+            # create_app works inside the root; Windows cannot remove a process's cwd.
+            os.chdir(original_cwd)
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
diff --git a/tests/test_browser_server_lifetime.py b/tests/test_browser_server_lifetime.py
index 1380ed5..eb68bbb 100644
--- a/tests/test_browser_server_lifetime.py
+++ b/tests/test_browser_server_lifetime.py
@@ -39,7 +39,10 @@ class TestBrowserServerLifetime(unittest.TestCase):
         def stop():
             if process.poll() is None:
                 process.kill()
-            process.communicate(timeout=SERVER_TIMEOUT_S)
+            process.wait(timeout=SERVER_TIMEOUT_S)
+            # communicate() would flush a closed stdin, which Python < 3.13 refuses.
+            for stream in (process.stdin, process.stdout, process.stderr):
+                stream.close()
 
         self.addCleanup(stop)
         line = process.stdout.readline().decode()
@@ -63,7 +66,10 @@ class TestBrowserServerLifetime(unittest.TestCase):
         process = self.start("--exit-on-stdin-eof")
         self.assertEqual(len(self.roots()), 1, "the server works in its own temp root")
         process.stdin.close()
-        self.assertEqual(process.wait(timeout=SERVER_TIMEOUT_S), 0)
+        code = process.wait(timeout=SERVER_TIMEOUT_S)
+        self.assertEqual(
+            code, 0, process.stderr.read().decode(errors="replace")[-4000:]
+        )
         self.assertEqual(self.roots(), [], "the temp root and its database are removed")
 
     def test_server_keeps_running_with_stdin_closed_without_the_flag(self):
diff --git a/tests/vendor/browser-server-fixture.test.mjs b/tests/vendor/browser-server-fixture.test.mjs
index aa8c3e1..9b05c4b 100644
--- a/tests/vendor/browser-server-fixture.test.mjs
+++ b/tests/vendor/browser-server-fixture.test.mjs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
 import { createServer } from 'node:net';
 import { spawn } from 'node:child_process';
 import { once } from 'node:events';
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
 import { fileURLToPath, pathToFileURL } from 'node:url';
 import { setTimeout as delay } from 'node:timers/promises';
 import { startBrowserServer, createServerSupervisor, attachServerStderr } from '../../tools/vendor/start-browser-server.mjs';
@@ -27,7 +28,11 @@ async function writeStderr(server, text) {
     await waitFor(() => server.stderrTail().endsWith(text.trimEnd()), `stderr ${JSON.stringify(text)}`);
 }
 
-const alive = pid => { try { process.kill(pid, 0); return true; } catch { return false; } };
+/** A process that exited counts as gone even while a non-reaping PID 1 (CI's container) leaves it a zombie. */
+function alive(pid) {
+    try { process.kill(pid, 0); } catch { return false; }
+    try { return readFileSync(`/proc/${pid}/stat`, 'utf8').replace(/^.*\) /s, '')[0] !== 'Z'; } catch { return true; }
+}
 
 /** Starts a server from a separate Node worker process, SIGKILLs that worker and returns the server's pid. */
 async function serverOfKilledWorker(options) {