diff --git a/compat/win32/fscache.c b/compat/win32/fscache.c
index 2f76b2eba5..abc924bbcd 100644
--- a/compat/win32/fscache.c
+++ b/compat/win32/fscache.c
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include "../../hashmap.h"
 #include "../win32.h"
 #include "fscache.h"
+#include "config.h"
 
 static int initialized;
 static volatile long enabled;
@@ -393,7 +394,11 @@ int fscache_enable(int enable)
 	int result;
 
 	if (!initialized) {
+		int fscache = git_env_bool("GIT_TEST_FSCACHE", -1);
+
 		/* allow the cache to be disabled entirely */
+		if (fscache != -1)
+			core_fscache = fscache;
 		if (!core_fscache)
 			return 0;
 
diff --git a/t/README b/t/README
index c730a70770..45cfdfa024 100644
--- a/t/README
+++ b/t/README
@@ -439,6 +439,9 @@ GIT_TEST_DEFAULT_HASH=<hash-algo> specifies which hash algorithm to
 use in the test scripts. Recognized values for <hash-algo> are "sha1"
 and "sha256".
 
+GIT_TEST_FSCACHE=<boolean> exercises the uncommon fscache code path
+which adds a cache below mingw's lstat and dirent implementations.
+
 Naming Tests
 ------------