diff --git a/packages/webui/test/browser/native-runtime.spec.mjs b/packages/webui/test/browser/native-runtime.spec.mjs
index 5be9f151..06e8d2cd 100644
--- a/packages/webui/test/browser/native-runtime.spec.mjs
+++ b/packages/webui/test/browser/native-runtime.spec.mjs
@@ -22,14 +22,49 @@ test.beforeAll(async () => {
     once(child, "exit").then(([code]) => { throw new Error(`Native host exited ${code}: ${logs}`); }),
   ]);
 });
+/**
+ * Waits for a promise, and says what the host was doing when it does not
+ * arrive.
+ */
+async function within(promise, ms, makeError) {
+  let timer;
+  try {
+    return await Promise.race([
+      promise,
+      new Promise((_, reject) => {
+        timer = setTimeout(() => reject(makeError()), ms);
+      }),
+    ]);
+  } finally {
+    clearTimeout(timer);
+  }
+}
+
 test.afterAll(async () => {
   if (!child || child.exitCode !== null || !child.connected) return;
   const stopped = once(child, "message");
   child.send("close");
-  const [message] = await stopped;
+  // The host's own trace of where it is in the shutdown is the only thing
+  // that says which step stopped answering, so a shutdown that does not
+  // finish has to carry it.
+  const [message] = await within(
+    stopped,
+    30_000,
+    () => new Error(`the native host did not finish closing\n${logs}`),
+  );
   expect(message).toMatchObject({ closed: true, terminals: 0 });
   expect(message.exited).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(6);
-  await once(child, "exit");
+  // Once the host has said it closed, it has nothing left to do and it must
+  // be gone. Node-pty's Windows console-list helper cannot attach to a
+  // ConPTY shell, so every terminal it kills leaves a five-second fallback
+  // timer behind, and that timer used to keep the host alive long after the
+  // acceptance was over — long enough for this hook to miss its deadline on a
+  // loaded machine.
+  await within(
+    once(child, "exit"),
+    2_000,
+    () => new Error(`the native host did not exit\n${logs}`),
+  );
 });
 
 async function rpc(page, operation, body = operation === "listTerminals" ? {} : undefined) {
diff --git a/packages/webui/test/browser/support/native-browser-host.ts b/packages/webui/test/browser/support/native-browser-host.ts
index a609f8f7..bb62972e 100644
--- a/packages/webui/test/browser/support/native-browser-host.ts
+++ b/packages/webui/test/browser/support/native-browser-host.ts
@@ -65,13 +65,34 @@ let closing: Promise<void> | undefined;
 async function close() {
   if (closing) return closing;
   closing = (async () => {
+    // Each step says where it is before it runs: a shutdown that does not
+    // finish is otherwise a silence, and the suite cannot tell which step
+    // stopped answering.
+    const step = (name: string) => { process.stderr.write(`[native-host] ${name}\n`); };
+    step("service.close");
     await service.close();
+    step("terminals exited");
     await Promise.all(exits);
+    step("apiHost.close");
     await assembled.host.apiHost.close();
+    step("terminals checked");
     if (terminal.list().length !== 0) throw new Error("Native terminal service leaked processes");
+    step("data dir removed");
     await rm(directory, { recursive: true, force: true });
-    process.send?.({ closed: true, terminals: 0, exited: exits.length });
-    process.disconnect?.();
+    step("reported");
+    // The acceptance is over and the host has said so, so it goes: the exit is
+    // taken here rather than left to the event loop. Node-pty's Windows
+    // console-list helper cannot attach to a ConPTY shell — the shell has a
+    // pseudo-console, not a console — so every terminal it kills leaves a
+    // five-second fallback timer behind in this process. Waiting for that
+    // timer kept the host alive long after there was nothing left to do, and
+    // under load that was enough for the suite's shutdown hook to miss its
+    // deadline. The callback runs once the message has been flushed, so the
+    // report is not lost by exiting here.
+    process.send?.({ closed: true, terminals: 0, exited: exits.length }, () => {
+      process.disconnect?.();
+      process.exit(0);
+    });
   })();
   return closing;
 }