diff --git a/test/sanity/src/desktop.test.ts b/test/sanity/src/desktop.test.ts
index 9cbab10e900..aa241403028 100644
--- a/test/sanity/src/desktop.test.ts
+++ b/test/sanity/src/desktop.test.ts
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@
  *  Licensed under the MIT License. See License.txt in the project root for license information.
  *--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
 
-//import { spawnSync } from 'child_process';
-import os from 'os';
 import path from 'path';
 import { _electron } from 'playwright';
 import { TestContext } from './context';
@@ -12,21 +10,6 @@ import { UITest } from './uiTest';
 
 export function setup(context: TestContext) {
 	describe('Desktop', () => {
-		/*
-		// Reset working directory and clean up any existing Electron processes before each test
-		// This is needed because the CLI test changes the cwd to a temp directory
-		const originalCwd = process.cwd();
-		beforeEach(async function () {
-			process.chdir(originalCwd);
-			if (os.platform() === 'darwin') {
-				context.log('Killing existing Electron processes on macOS');
-				spawnSync('pkill', ['-9', 'Electron'], { stdio: 'ignore' });
-				// Wait for processes to fully terminate
-				await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));
-			}
-		});
-		*/
-
 		if (context.platform === 'darwin-x64') {
 			it('desktop-darwin-x64', async () => {
 				const dir = await context.downloadAndUnpack('darwin');
@@ -196,33 +179,16 @@ export function setup(context: TestContext) {
 		async function testDesktopApp(entryPoint: string, options?: { universal?: boolean }) {
 			const test = new UITest(context);
 			const args = [
-				//'--wait',
-				//'--new-window',
 				'--extensions-dir', test.extensionsDir,
 				'--user-data-dir', test.userDataDir,
 				test.workspaceDir
 			];
 
-			process.chdir(test.workspaceDir);
-			context.log(`Changed current directory to: ${test.workspaceDir}`);
-
-			// Start with full environment but remove VS Code specific variables that might cause interference
-			const env: Record<string, string | undefined> = { ...process.env };
-			/*
-			delete env['VSCODE_IPC_HOOK'];
-			delete env['VSCODE_IPC_HOOK_CLI'];
-			delete env['VSCODE_NLS_CONFIG'];
-			delete env['VSCODE_PORTABLE'];
-			delete env['VSCODE_PID'];
-			delete env['VSCODE_CWD'];
-			delete env['VSCODE_CLI_DATA_DIR'];
-			delete env['ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE'];
-			*/
-
-			// For universal binary on x64 Mac, set ARCHPREFERENCE to ensure correct architecture
-			if (options?.universal && os.arch() === 'x64') {
-				env['ARCHPREFERENCE'] = 'x86_64';
-			}
+			// Ensure correct architecture preference for universal binary on x64 Mac.
+			const env = {
+				...process.env,
+				ARCHPREFERENCE: options?.universal && context.platform === 'darwin-x64' ? 'x86_64' : undefined
+			};
 
 			context.log(`Starting VS Code ${entryPoint} with args ${args.join(' ')}`);
 			const app = await _electron.launch({ executablePath: entryPoint, args, env: env as Record<string, string> });
diff --git a/test/sanity/src/main.ts b/test/sanity/src/main.ts
index f6a2b7d6084..ea038051d64 100644
--- a/test/sanity/src/main.ts
+++ b/test/sanity/src/main.ts
@@ -28,6 +28,12 @@ if (!options.quality) {
 const context = new TestContext(options.quality, options.commit, options.verbose);
 
 describe('VS Code Sanity Tests', () => {
+	beforeEach(() => {
+		const cwd = context.createTempDir();
+		process.chdir(cwd);
+		context.log(`Changed working directory to: ${cwd}`);
+	});
+
 	if (options.cleanup) {
 		afterEach(() => {
 			context.cleanup();