diff --git a/.github/workflows/mingw-w64.yml b/.github/workflows/mingw-w64.yml
index a2a253247c6b..6a9364e3c94e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/mingw-w64.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/mingw-w64.yml
@@ -12,37 +12,8 @@ env:
   SPEC_SPLIT_DOTS: 160
 
 jobs:
-  x86_64-mingw-w64-cross-compile:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
-    steps:
-      - name: Download Crystal source
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - name: Install LLVM
-        run: |
-          _llvm_major=$(wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/msys2/MINGW-packages/refs/heads/master/mingw-w64-llvm/PKGBUILD | grep '_version=' | sed -E 's/_version=([0-9]+).*/\1/')
-          sudo apt remove 'llvm-*' 'libllvm*'
-          wget -qO- https://apt.llvm.org/llvm-snapshot.gpg.key | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/apt.llvm.org.asc
-          sudo apt-add-repository -y deb http://apt.llvm.org/noble/ llvm-toolchain-noble-${_llvm_major} main
-          sudo apt install -y llvm-${_llvm_major}-dev
-
-      - name: Install Crystal
-        uses: crystal-lang/install-crystal@v1
-        with:
-          crystal: "1.15.1"
-
-      - name: Cross-compile Crystal
-        run: make && make -B target=x86_64-windows-gnu release=1 interpreter=1
-
-      - name: Upload crystal.obj
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
-        with:
-          name: x86_64-mingw-w64-crystal-obj
-          path: .build/crystal.obj
-
-  x86_64-mingw-w64-link:
+  x86_64-mingw-w64-build:
     runs-on: windows-2022
-    needs: [x86_64-mingw-w64-cross-compile]
     steps:
       - name: Setup MSYS2
         id: msys2
@@ -51,16 +22,10 @@ jobs:
           msystem: UCRT64
           update: true
           install: >-
+            git
             make
             mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-pkgconf
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cc
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gc
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-pcre2
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libiconv
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-zlib
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-llvm
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libffi
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libyaml
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-crystal
 
       - name: Disable CRLF line ending substitution
         run: |
@@ -69,30 +34,19 @@ jobs:
       - name: Download Crystal source
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-      - name: Download crystal.obj
-        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
-        with:
-          name: x86_64-mingw-w64-crystal-obj
-
-      - name: Link Crystal executable
+      - name: Build Crystal
         shell: msys2 {0}
-        run: |
-          mkdir .build
-          cc crystal.obj -o .build/crystal.exe -municode \
-            $(pkg-config bdw-gc libpcre2-8 iconv zlib libffi --libs) \
-            $(llvm-config --libs --system-libs --ldflags) \
-            -lole32 -lWS2_32 -lntdll -Wl,--stack,0x800000
+        run: make crystal interpreter=1 release=1
 
       - name: Package Crystal
         shell: msys2 {0}
-        run: |
-          make install install_dlls deref_symlinks=1 PREFIX="$(pwd)/crystal"
+        run: make install install_dlls deref_symlinks=1 PREFIX="$(pwd)/crystal"
 
       - name: Download shards release
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           repository: crystal-lang/shards
-          ref: v0.19.0
+          ref: v0.19.1
           path: shards
 
       - name: Build shards release
@@ -102,8 +56,11 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Package Shards
         shell: msys2 {0}
+        working-directory: ./shards
         run: |
           make install PREFIX="$(pwd)/../crystal"
+          # FIXME: remove after crystal-lang/shards#668
+          ldd bin/shards.exe | grep -iv ' => /c/windows/system32' | sed 's/.* => //; s/ (.*//' | xargs -t -i /usr/bin/install -m 0755 '{}' "$(pwd)/../crystal/bin/"
 
       - name: Upload Crystal executable
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
@@ -111,9 +68,8 @@ jobs:
           name: x86_64-mingw-w64-crystal
           path: crystal
 
-  x86_64-mingw-w64-test:
+  x86_64-mingw-w64-test-stdlib:
     runs-on: windows-2022
-    needs: [x86_64-mingw-w64-link]
     steps:
       - name: Setup MSYS2
         id: msys2
@@ -125,17 +81,7 @@ jobs:
             git
             make
             mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-pkgconf
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cc
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gc
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-pcre2
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libiconv
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-zlib
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-llvm
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gmp
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libxml2
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libyaml
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-openssl
-            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-libffi
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-crystal
 
       - name: Disable CRLF line ending substitution
         run: |
@@ -144,36 +90,48 @@ jobs:
       - name: Download Crystal source
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-      - name: Download Crystal executable
-        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
-        with:
-          name: x86_64-mingw-w64-crystal
-          path: crystal
-
       - name: Run stdlib specs
         shell: msys2 {0}
         run: |
-          export PATH="$(pwd)/crystal/bin:$PATH"
-          export CRYSTAL_SPEC_COMPILER_BIN="$(pwd)/crystal/bin/crystal.exe"
+          export CRYSTAL_SPEC_COMPILER_BIN="$(which crystal.exe)"
           make std_spec
 
+  x86_64-mingw-w64-test-compiler:
+    runs-on: windows-2022
+    steps:
+      - name: Setup MSYS2
+        id: msys2
+        uses: msys2/setup-msys2@d44ca8e88d8b43d56cf5670f91747359d5537f97 # v2.26.0
+        with:
+          msystem: UCRT64
+          update: true
+          install: >-
+            git
+            make
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-pkgconf
+            mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-crystal
+
+      - name: Disable CRLF line ending substitution
+        run: |
+          git config --global core.autocrlf false
+
+      - name: Download Crystal source
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
       - name: Run compiler specs
         shell: msys2 {0}
         run: |
-          export PATH="$(pwd)/crystal/bin:$PATH"
-          export CRYSTAL_SPEC_COMPILER_BIN="$(pwd)/crystal/bin/crystal.exe"
+          export CRYSTAL_SPEC_COMPILER_BIN="$(which crystal.exe)"
           make compiler_spec
 
       - name: Run interpreter specs
         shell: msys2 {0}
         run: |
-          export PATH="$(pwd)/crystal/bin:$PATH"
-          export CRYSTAL_SPEC_COMPILER_BIN="$(pwd)/crystal/bin/crystal.exe"
+          export CRYSTAL_SPEC_COMPILER_BIN="$(which crystal.exe)"
           make interpreter_spec
 
       - name: Run primitives specs
         shell: msys2 {0}
         run: |
-          export PATH="$(pwd)/crystal/bin:$PATH"
-          export CRYSTAL_SPEC_COMPILER_BIN="$(pwd)/crystal/bin/crystal.exe"
+          export CRYSTAL_SPEC_COMPILER_BIN="$(which crystal.exe)"
           make -o .build/crystal.exe primitives_spec # we know the compiler is fresh; do not rebuild it here