diff --git a/tests/installation/npmTest.ts b/tests/installation/npmTest.ts
index ab2b9b2a885e9..4801f967e811b 100644
--- a/tests/installation/npmTest.ts
+++ b/tests/installation/npmTest.ts
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ type NPMTestFixtures = {
   _auto: void;
   _browsersPath: string;
   tmpWorkspace: string;
-  installedSoftwareOnDisk: () => Promise<string[]>;
+  checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk: (browsers: string[]) => Promise<void>;
   writeFiles: (nameToContents: Record<string, string>) => Promise<void>;
   exec: (cmd: string, ...argsAndOrOptions: ArgsOrOptions) => Promise<string>;
   tsc: (args: string) => Promise<string>;
@@ -146,10 +146,13 @@ export const test = _test
         await use(registry);
         await registry.shutdown();
       },
-      installedSoftwareOnDisk: async ({ isolateBrowsers, _browsersPath }, use) => {
-        if (!isolateBrowsers)
-          throw new Error(`Test that checks browser installation must set "isolateBrowsers" to true`);
-        await use(async () => fs.promises.readdir(_browsersPath).catch(() => []).then(files => files.map(f => f.split('-')[0].replace(/_/g, '-')).filter(f => !f.startsWith('.'))));
+      checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk: async ({ isolateBrowsers, _browsersPath }, use) => {
+        await use(async expected => {
+          if (!isolateBrowsers)
+            throw new Error(`Test that checks browser installation must set "isolateBrowsers" to true`);
+          const actual = await fs.promises.readdir(_browsersPath).catch(() => []).then(files => files.map(f => f.split('-')[0].replace(/_/g, '-')).filter(f => !f.startsWith('.')));
+          expect(new Set(actual)).toEqual(new Set(expected));
+        });
       },
       exec: async ({ tmpWorkspace, _browsersPath, isolateBrowsers }, use, testInfo) => {
         await use(async (cmd: string, ...argsAndOrOptions: [] | [...string[]] | [...string[], ExecOptions] | [ExecOptions]) => {
diff --git a/tests/installation/npx-global.spec.ts b/tests/installation/npx-global.spec.ts
index 6a3da572ef59e..0df4d4829b025 100755
--- a/tests/installation/npx-global.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/installation/npx-global.spec.ts
@@ -17,26 +17,26 @@ import { test, expect } from './npmTest';
 
 test.use({ isolateBrowsers: true, allowGlobalInstall: true });
 
-test('npx playwright --help should not download browsers', async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test('npx playwright --help should not download browsers', async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
   const result = await exec('npx playwright --help');
   expect(result).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload([]);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual([]);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk([]);
   expect(result).not.toContain(`To avoid unexpected behavior, please install your dependencies first`);
 });
 
-test('npx playwright codegen', async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test('npx playwright codegen', async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
   const stdio = await exec('npx playwright codegen', { expectToExitWithError: true });
   expect(stdio).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload([]);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual([]);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk([]);
   expect(stdio).toContain(`Please run the following command to download new browsers`);
 });
 
-test('npx playwright install global', async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test('npx playwright install global', async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
   test.skip(process.platform === 'win32', 'isLikelyNpxGlobal() does not work in this setup on our bots');
 
   const result = await exec('npx playwright install');
   expect(result).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
   expect(result).not.toContain(`Please run the following command to download new browsers`);
   expect(result).toContain(`To avoid unexpected behavior, please install your dependencies first`);
 });
diff --git a/tests/installation/playwright-cdn.spec.ts b/tests/installation/playwright-cdn.spec.ts
index 3b472625e93af..9b7434502573f 100644
--- a/tests/installation/playwright-cdn.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/installation/playwright-cdn.spec.ts
@@ -38,11 +38,11 @@ const parsedDownloads = (rawLogs: string) => {
 test.use({ isolateBrowsers: true });
 
 for (const cdn of CDNS) {
-  test(`playwright cdn failover should work (${cdn})`, async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+  test(`playwright cdn failover should work (${cdn})`, async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
     await exec('npm i playwright');
     const result = await exec('npx playwright install', { env: { PW_TEST_CDN_THAT_SHOULD_WORK: cdn, DEBUG: 'pw:install' } });
     expect(result).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
-    expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
+    await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
     const dls = parsedDownloads(result);
     for (const software of ['chromium', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit'])
       expect(dls).toContainEqual({ status: 200, name: software, url: expect.stringContaining(cdn) });
diff --git a/tests/installation/playwright-cli-install-should-work.spec.ts b/tests/installation/playwright-cli-install-should-work.spec.ts
index d1a8bd3d042fd..064568f3e21a3 100755
--- a/tests/installation/playwright-cli-install-should-work.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/installation/playwright-cli-install-should-work.spec.ts
@@ -19,19 +19,19 @@ import path from 'path';
 
 test.use({ isolateBrowsers: true });
 
-test('install command should work', async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test('install command should work', async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
   await exec('npm i playwright');
 
   await test.step('playwright install chromium', async () => {
     const result = await exec('npx playwright install chromium');
     expect(result).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg']);
-    expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg']);
+    await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg']);
   });
 
   await test.step('playwright install', async () => {
     const result = await exec('npx playwright install');
     expect(result).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload(['firefox', 'webkit']);
-    expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
+    await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
   });
 
   await exec('node sanity.js playwright', { env: { PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH: '0' } });
@@ -48,12 +48,12 @@ test('install command should work', async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) =>
   }
 });
 
-test('should be able to remove browsers', async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test('should be able to remove browsers', async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
   await exec('npm i playwright');
   await exec('npx playwright install chromium');
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg']);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg']);
   await exec('npx playwright uninstall');
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual([]);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk([]);
 });
 
 test('should print the right install command without browsers', async ({ exec }) => {
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ test('subsequent installs works', async ({ exec }) => {
   await exec('node --unhandled-rejections=strict', path.join('node_modules', '@playwright', 'browser-chromium', 'install.js'));
 });
 
-test('install playwright-chromium should work', async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test('install playwright-chromium should work', async ({ exec }) => {
   await exec('npm i playwright-chromium');
   await exec('npx playwright install chromium');
   await exec('node sanity.js playwright-chromium chromium');
diff --git a/tests/installation/playwright-packages-install-behavior.spec.ts b/tests/installation/playwright-packages-install-behavior.spec.ts
index 9975abce99d82..9ace1eaa674ef 100755
--- a/tests/installation/playwright-packages-install-behavior.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/installation/playwright-packages-install-behavior.spec.ts
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ import { test, expect } from './npmTest';
 test.use({ isolateBrowsers: true });
 
 for (const browser of ['chromium', 'firefox', 'webkit']) {
-  test(`playwright-${browser} should work`, async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+  test(`playwright-${browser} should work`, async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
     const pkg = `playwright-${browser}`;
     const result = await exec('npm i --foreground-scripts', pkg);
     const browserName = pkg.split('-')[1];
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ for (const browser of ['chromium', 'firefox', 'webkit']) {
     if (browserName === 'chromium')
       expectedSoftware.push('chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg');
     expect(result).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload(expectedSoftware as any);
-    expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(expectedSoftware);
+    await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(expectedSoftware);
     expect(result).not.toContain(`To avoid unexpected behavior, please install your dependencies first`);
     await exec('node sanity.js', pkg, browser);
     await exec('node', `esm-${pkg}.mjs`);
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ for (const browser of ['chromium', 'firefox', 'webkit']) {
 }
 
 for (const browser of ['chromium', 'firefox', 'webkit']) {
-  test(`@playwright/browser-${browser} should work`, async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+  test(`@playwright/browser-${browser} should work`, async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
     const pkg = `@playwright/browser-${browser}`;
     const expectedSoftware = [browser];
     if (browser === 'chromium')
@@ -43,67 +43,67 @@ for (const browser of ['chromium', 'firefox', 'webkit']) {
 
     const result1 = await exec('npm i --foreground-scripts', pkg);
     expect(result1).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload(expectedSoftware as any);
-    expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(expectedSoftware);
+    await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(expectedSoftware);
     expect(result1).not.toContain(`To avoid unexpected behavior, please install your dependencies first`);
 
     const result2 = await exec('npm i --foreground-scripts playwright');
     expect(result2).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload([]);
-    expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(expectedSoftware);
+    await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(expectedSoftware);
 
     await exec('node sanity.js playwright', browser);
     await exec('node browser-only.js', pkg);
   });
 }
 
-test(`playwright-core should work`, async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test(`playwright-core should work`, async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
   const result1 = await exec('npm i --foreground-scripts playwright-core');
   expect(result1).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload([]);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual([]);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk([]);
   const stdio = await exec('npx playwright-core', 'test', '-c', '.', { expectToExitWithError: true });
   expect(stdio).toContain(`Please install @playwright/test package`);
 });
 
-test(`playwright should work`, async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test(`playwright should work`, async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
   const result1 = await exec('npm i --foreground-scripts playwright');
   expect(result1).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload([]);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual([]);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk([]);
 
   const result2 = await exec('npx playwright install');
   expect(result2).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
 
   await exec('node sanity.js playwright chromium firefox webkit');
   await exec('node esm-playwright.mjs');
 });
 
-test(`playwright should work with chromium --no-shell`, async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test(`playwright should work with chromium --no-shell`, async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
   const result1 = await exec('npm i --foreground-scripts playwright');
   expect(result1).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload([]);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual([]);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk([]);
   const result2 = await exec('npx playwright install chromium --no-shell');
   expect(result2).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload(['chromium', 'ffmpeg']);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(['chromium', 'ffmpeg']);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(['chromium', 'ffmpeg']);
 });
 
-test(`playwright should work with chromium --only-shell`, async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test(`playwright should work with chromium --only-shell`, async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
   const result1 = await exec('npm i --foreground-scripts playwright');
   expect(result1).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload([]);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual([]);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk([]);
   const result2 = await exec('npx playwright install --only-shell');
   expect(result2).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload(['chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(['chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(['chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
 });
 
-test('@playwright/test should work', async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test('@playwright/test should work', async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
   const result1 = await exec('npm i --foreground-scripts @playwright/test');
   expect(result1).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload([]);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual([]);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk([]);
 
   await exec('npx playwright test -c . sample.spec.js', { expectToExitWithError: true, message: 'should not be able to run tests without installing browsers' });
 
   const result2 = await exec('npx playwright install');
   expect(result2).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk(['chromium', 'chromium-headless-shell', 'ffmpeg', 'firefox', 'webkit']);
 
   await exec('node sanity.js @playwright/test chromium firefox webkit');
   await exec('node', 'esm-playwright-test.mjs');
diff --git a/tests/installation/skip-browser-download.spec.ts b/tests/installation/skip-browser-download.spec.ts
index 7cf9cdf602217..21d4443dca597 100755
--- a/tests/installation/skip-browser-download.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/installation/skip-browser-download.spec.ts
@@ -17,10 +17,10 @@ import { test, expect } from './npmTest';
 
 test.use({ isolateBrowsers: true });
 
-test('should skip browser installs', async ({ exec, installedSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
+test('should skip browser installs', async ({ exec, checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk }) => {
   const result = await exec('npm i --foreground-scripts playwright @playwright/browser-firefox', { env: { PLAYWRIGHT_SKIP_BROWSER_DOWNLOAD: '1' } });
   expect(result).toHaveLoggedSoftwareDownload([]);
-  expect(await installedSoftwareOnDisk()).toEqual([]);
+  await checkInstalledSoftwareOnDisk([]);
   expect(result).toContain(`Skipping browsers download because`);
 
   if (process.platform === 'linux') {