diff --git a/src/win32/posix.h b/src/win32/posix.h
index 0ba05a16f..64769ecd3 100644
--- a/src/win32/posix.h
+++ b/src/win32/posix.h
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #include "dir.h"
 
 extern unsigned long git_win32__createfile_sharemode;
+extern int git_win32__retries;
 
 typedef SOCKET GIT_SOCKET;
 
diff --git a/src/win32/posix_w32.c b/src/win32/posix_w32.c
index 874892eb6..bf132966d 100644
--- a/src/win32/posix_w32.c
+++ b/src/win32/posix_w32.c
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ typedef DWORD(WINAPI *PFGetFinalPathNameByHandleW)(HANDLE, LPWSTR, DWORD, DWORD)
 
 unsigned long git_win32__createfile_sharemode =
  FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE;
+int git_win32__retries = 10;
 
 GIT_INLINE(void) set_errno(void)
 {
@@ -162,7 +163,7 @@ GIT_INLINE(bool) last_error_retryable(void)
 #define do_with_retries(fn, cleanup) \
 	do {                                                             \
 		int __tries, __ret;                                          \
-		for (__tries = 0; __tries < 10; __tries++) {                 \
+		for (__tries = 0; __tries < git_win32__retries; __tries++) { \
 			if (__tries && (__ret = (cleanup)) != 0)                 \
 				return __ret;                                        \
 			if ((__ret = (fn)) != GIT_RETRY)                         \
diff --git a/tests/threads/diff.c b/tests/threads/diff.c
index c32811469..92fd7061b 100644
--- a/tests/threads/diff.c
+++ b/tests/threads/diff.c
@@ -19,12 +19,20 @@ static git_repository *_repo;
 static git_tree *_a, *_b;
 static git_atomic _counts[4];
 static int _check_counts;
+static int _retries;
 
 #define THREADS 20
 
+void test_threads_diff__initialize(void)
+{
+	_retries = git_win32__retries;
+	git_win32__retries = 1;
+}
+
 void test_threads_diff__cleanup(void)
 {
 	cl_git_sandbox_cleanup();
+	git_win32__retries = _retries;
 }
 
 static void setup_trees(void)