diff --git a/test/CMakeLists.txt b/test/CMakeLists.txt
index b762ffe92d..14764824d6 100644
--- a/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -296,6 +296,9 @@ add_sdl_test_executable(testoverlay NEEDS_RESOURCES TESTUTILS SOURCES testoverla
 add_sdl_test_executable(testplatform NONINTERACTIVE SOURCES testplatform.c)
 add_sdl_test_executable(testpower NONINTERACTIVE SOURCES testpower.c)
 add_sdl_test_executable(testfilesystem NONINTERACTIVE SOURCES testfilesystem.c)
+if(WIN32 AND CMAKE_SIZEOF_VOID_P EQUAL 4)
+    add_sdl_test_executable(testfilesystem_pre SOURCES testfilesystem_pre.c NONINTERACTIVE NONINTERACTIVE_TIMEOUT 60)
+endif()
 add_sdl_test_executable(testrendertarget NEEDS_RESOURCES TESTUTILS SOURCES testrendertarget.c)
 add_sdl_test_executable(testscale NEEDS_RESOURCES TESTUTILS SOURCES testscale.c)
 add_sdl_test_executable(testsem NONINTERACTIVE NONINTERACTIVE_ARGS 10 NONINTERACTIVE_TIMEOUT 30 SOURCES testsem.c)
@@ -504,6 +507,10 @@ foreach(TEST ${SDL_TEST_EXECUTABLES})
     endif()
 endforeach()
 
+if(TARGET testfilesystem_pre)
+    set_property(TEST testfilesystem APPEND PROPERTY DEPENDS testfilesystem_pre)
+endif()
+
 if(SDL_INSTALL_TESTS)
     if(RISCOS)
         install(
diff --git a/test/testfilesystem_pre.c b/test/testfilesystem_pre.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1a7e0d6175
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/testfilesystem_pre.c
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+/*
+  Copyright (C) 1997-2023 Sam Lantinga <slouken@libsdl.org>
+
+  This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
+  warranty.  In no event will the authors be held liable for any damages
+  arising from the use of this software.
+
+  Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
+  including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
+  freely.
+*/
+/* Call SDL_GetPrefPath to warm the SHGetFolderPathW cache */
+
+/**
+ * We noticed frequent ci timeouts running testfilesystem on 32-bit Windows.
+ * Internally, this functions calls Shell32.SHGetFolderPathW.
+ */
+
+#include <SDL3/SDL.h>
+#include <SDL3/SDL_main.h>
+
+int main(int argc, char *argv[])
+{
+    Uint64 start;
+    (void)argc;
+    (void)argv;
+    SDL_Init(0);
+    start = SDL_GetTicks();
+    SDL_GetPrefPath("libsdl", "test_filesystem");
+    SDL_Log("SDL_GetPrefPath took %" SDL_PRIu64 "ms", SDL_GetTicks() - start);
+    SDL_Quit();
+    return 0;
+}