diff --git a/ci/appveyor-cpp-setup.bat b/ci/appveyor-cpp-setup.bat
index 912b130acff45..4b637eaa6e75b 100644
--- a/ci/appveyor-cpp-setup.bat
+++ b/ci/appveyor-cpp-setup.bat
@@ -70,7 +70,6 @@ conda create -n arrow ^
   "ninja" ^
   "nomkl" ^
   "pandas" ^
-  "fsspec" ^
   "python=%PYTHON%" ^
   || exit /B
 conda list -n arrow
diff --git a/ci/conda_env_python.txt b/ci/conda_env_python.txt
index b467cc1ddd3b4..42143eceb3f2e 100644
--- a/ci/conda_env_python.txt
+++ b/ci/conda_env_python.txt
@@ -15,8 +15,11 @@
 # specific language governing permissions and limitations
 # under the License.
 
-# don't add pandas here, because it is not a mandatory test dependency
-boto3  # not a direct dependency of s3fs, but needed for our s3fs fixture
+# Don't add pandas here, because it is not a mandatory test dependency
+
+# Not a direct dependency of s3fs, but needed for our s3fs fixture
+# (temporary upper bound because of GH-45305)
+boto3<1.36
 cffi
 cython>=3
 cloudpickle