diff --git a/lib/tasks/gitlab/shell.rake b/lib/tasks/gitlab/shell.rake
index 71716ae1856b77188b7e78f7b338562536166775..a8f26a7c02931f8484aea7d0d3d86a1f3e196ee0 100644
--- a/lib/tasks/gitlab/shell.rake
+++ b/lib/tasks/gitlab/shell.rake
@@ -22,7 +22,10 @@ namespace :gitlab do
 
       # Make sure we're on the right tag
       Dir.chdir(target_dir) do
-        sh "git fetch origin && git reset --hard $(git describe #{args.tag} || git describe origin/#{args.tag})"
+        # First try to checkout without fetching
+        # to avoid stalling tests if the Internet is down.
+        reset = "git reset --hard $(git describe #{args.tag} || git describe origin/#{args.tag})"
+        sh "#{reset} || git fetch origin && #{reset}"
 
         config = {
           user: user,
diff --git a/spec/support/test_env.rb b/spec/support/test_env.rb
index e67c29a67834f69b36bae8fe628b23a672010972..4b0a3856f89b48ae806ef55f44b53e9bdf97aab3 100644
--- a/spec/support/test_env.rb
+++ b/spec/support/test_env.rb
@@ -17,7 +17,11 @@ module TestEnv
     tmp_test_path = Rails.root.join('tmp', 'tests')
 
     if File.directory?(tmp_test_path)
-      FileUtils.rm_r(tmp_test_path)
+      Dir.entries(tmp_test_path).each do |entry|
+        unless ['.', '..', 'gitlab-shell'].include?(entry)
+          FileUtils.rm_r(File.join(tmp_test_path, entry))
+        end
+      end
     end
 
     FileUtils.mkdir_p(tmp_test_path)
@@ -38,9 +42,7 @@ module TestEnv
   end
 
   def setup_gitlab_shell
-    unless File.directory?(Gitlab.config.gitlab_shell.path)
-      %x[rake gitlab:shell:install]
-    end
+    `rake gitlab:shell:install`
   end
 
   def setup_factory_repo