diff --git a/tests-clar/checkout/index.c b/tests-clar/checkout/index.c
index 73050d08e..48d6d79f9 100644
--- a/tests-clar/checkout/index.c
+++ b/tests-clar/checkout/index.c
@@ -224,13 +224,15 @@ void test_checkout_index__options_disable_filters(void)
 
 void test_checkout_index__options_dir_modes(void)
 {
-#ifndef GIT_WIN32
 	git_checkout_opts opts = GIT_CHECKOUT_OPTS_INIT;
 	struct stat st;
 	git_oid oid;
 	git_commit *commit;
 	mode_t um;
 
+	if (!cl_is_chmod_supported())
+		return;
+
 	cl_git_pass(git_reference_name_to_id(&oid, g_repo, "refs/heads/dir"));
 	cl_git_pass(git_commit_lookup(&commit, g_repo, &oid));
 
@@ -252,15 +254,16 @@ void test_checkout_index__options_dir_modes(void)
 	cl_assert_equal_i_fmt(st.st_mode, GIT_FILEMODE_BLOB_EXECUTABLE, "%07o");
 
 	git_commit_free(commit);
-#endif
 }
 
 void test_checkout_index__options_override_file_modes(void)
 {
-#ifndef GIT_WIN32
 	git_checkout_opts opts = GIT_CHECKOUT_OPTS_INIT;
 	struct stat st;
 
+	if (!cl_is_chmod_supported())
+		return;
+
 	opts.checkout_strategy = GIT_CHECKOUT_SAFE_CREATE;
 	opts.file_mode = 0700;
 
@@ -268,7 +271,6 @@ void test_checkout_index__options_override_file_modes(void)
 
 	cl_git_pass(p_stat("./testrepo/new.txt", &st));
 	cl_assert_equal_i_fmt(st.st_mode & GIT_MODE_PERMS_MASK, 0700, "%07o");
-#endif
 }
 
 void test_checkout_index__options_open_flags(void)
diff --git a/tests-clar/core/mkdir.c b/tests-clar/core/mkdir.c
index a969e4de2..a8c5b10ae 100644
--- a/tests-clar/core/mkdir.c
+++ b/tests-clar/core/mkdir.c
@@ -111,14 +111,20 @@ static void cleanup_chmod_root(void *ref)
 	git_futils_rmdir_r("r", NULL, GIT_RMDIR_EMPTY_HIERARCHY);
 }
 
-static void check_mode(mode_t expected, mode_t actual)
+#define check_mode(X,A) check_mode_at_line((X), (A), __FILE__, __LINE__)
+
+static void check_mode_at_line(
+	mode_t expected, mode_t actual, const char *file, int line)
 {
-#ifdef GIT_WIN32
-	/* chmod on Win32 doesn't support exec bit, not group/world bits */
-	cl_assert_equal_i_fmt((expected & 0600), (actual & 0777), "%07o");
-#else
-	cl_assert_equal_i_fmt(expected, (actual & 0777), "%07o");
-#endif
+	/* FAT filesystems don't support exec bit, nor group/world bits */
+	if (!cl_is_chmod_supported()) {
+		expected &= 0600;
+		actual &= 0600;
+	}
+
+	clar__assert_equal(
+		file, line, "expected_mode != actual_mode", 1,
+		"%07o", (int)expected, (int)(actual & 0777));
 }
 
 void test_core_mkdir__chmods(void)
diff --git a/tests-clar/repo/init.c b/tests-clar/repo/init.c
index 061e444b5..617fdf879 100644
--- a/tests-clar/repo/init.c
+++ b/tests-clar/repo/init.c
@@ -212,20 +212,9 @@ static void assert_config_entry_on_init(
 	assert_config_entry_on_init_bytype(config_key, expected_value, false);
 }
 
-static int expect_filemode_support(void)
-{
-	struct stat st;
-
-	cl_git_write2file("testmode", "whatever\n", 0, O_CREAT | O_WRONLY, 0767);
-	cl_must_pass(p_stat("testmode", &st));
-	cl_must_pass(p_unlink("testmode"));
-
-	return (st.st_mode & 0111) == 0101;
-}
-
 void test_repo_init__detect_filemode(void)
 {
-	assert_config_entry_on_init("core.filemode", expect_filemode_support());
+	assert_config_entry_on_init("core.filemode", cl_is_chmod_supported());
 }
 
 void test_repo_init__detect_ignorecase(void)
@@ -287,7 +276,7 @@ void test_repo_init__reinit_doesnot_overwrite_ignorecase(void)
 
 void test_repo_init__reinit_overwrites_filemode(void)
 {
-	int expected = expect_filemode_support(), current_value;
+	int expected = cl_is_chmod_supported(), current_value;
 
 	/* Init a new repo */
 	cl_set_cleanup(&cleanup_repository, "overwrite.git");
@@ -359,7 +348,7 @@ void test_repo_init__extended_1(void)
 
 	cl_git_pass(git_path_lstat(git_repository_path(_repo), &st));
 	cl_assert(S_ISDIR(st.st_mode));
-	if (expect_filemode_support())
+	if (cl_is_chmod_supported())
 		cl_assert((S_ISGID & st.st_mode) == S_ISGID);
 	else
 		cl_assert((S_ISGID & st.st_mode) == 0);