diff --git a/global.json b/global.json
index bd19f150ac5bcb..2d06ddfdaa2349 100644
--- a/global.json
+++ b/global.json
@@ -2,7 +2,12 @@
   "sdk": {
     "version": "11.0.100-preview.3.26170.106",
     "allowPrerelease": true,
-    "rollForward": "major"
+    "rollForward": "major",
+    "paths": [
+      ".dotnet",
+      "$host$"
+    ],
+    "errorMessage": "The required .NET SDK wasn't found. Please run ./eng/common/dotnet.sh (Unix) or eng\\common\\dotnet.cmd (Windows) to install it."
   },
   "tools": {
     "dotnet": "11.0.100-preview.3.26170.106"
diff --git a/src/mono/nuget/Microsoft.NET.Runtime.WorkloadTesting.Internal/Sdk/WorkloadTesting.Core.targets b/src/mono/nuget/Microsoft.NET.Runtime.WorkloadTesting.Internal/Sdk/WorkloadTesting.Core.targets
index aa817442bf6cd9..c8a742387b7183 100755
--- a/src/mono/nuget/Microsoft.NET.Runtime.WorkloadTesting.Internal/Sdk/WorkloadTesting.Core.targets
+++ b/src/mono/nuget/Microsoft.NET.Runtime.WorkloadTesting.Internal/Sdk/WorkloadTesting.Core.targets
@@ -99,15 +99,22 @@
       <_DotNetVersionCommand>$(_DotNetPath) --version</_DotNetVersionCommand>
     </PropertyGroup>
 
-    <Exec Command="$(_DotNetVersionCommand)" ConsoleToMsBuild="true" StandardOutputImportance="Low" IgnoreExitCode="true">
+    <!-- Write an empty global.json so the SDK resolver uses the SDK in this directory
+         instead of walking up to the repo root's global.json which has relative "paths"
+         entries that would resolve to the wrong SDK. -->
+    <WriteLinesToFile File="$(_SdkWithNoWorkloadPath)global.json" Lines="{}" Overwrite="true" />
+
+    <Exec Command="$(_DotNetVersionCommand)" ConsoleToMsBuild="true" StandardOutputImportance="Low" IgnoreExitCode="true"
+          WorkingDirectory="$(_SdkWithNoWorkloadPath)">
       <Output TaskParameter="ConsoleOutput" PropertyName="_DotNetVersionOutput" />
       <Output TaskParameter="ExitCode" PropertyName="_DotNetVersionExitCode" />
     </Exec>
 
-    <!-- If `dotnet -version` failed, then run it again, so we can surface the output as *Errors*.
+    <!-- If `$(_DotNetVersionCommand)` failed, then run it again, so we can surface the output as *Errors*.
          This allows the errors to show up correctly, versus trying to use the output lines with
          the Error task -->
-    <Exec Condition="$(_DotNetVersionExitCode) != '0'" Command="$(_DotNetVersionCommand)" CustomErrorRegularExpression=".*" />
+    <Exec Condition="$(_DotNetVersionExitCode) != '0'" Command="$(_DotNetVersionCommand)" CustomErrorRegularExpression=".*"
+          WorkingDirectory="$(_SdkWithNoWorkloadPath)" />
 
     <PropertyGroup>
       <SdkBandVersionForWorkload_ComputedFromInstaller>$(SdkBandVersion)$([System.Text.RegularExpressions.Regex]::Match($(_DotNetVersionOutput), `-(?!rtm|release)[A-z]*[\.]*\d*`))</SdkBandVersionForWorkload_ComputedFromInstaller>
@@ -129,7 +136,8 @@
 
   <Target Name="_FirstDotNetRun">
     <!-- info`, or version don't trigger workload integrity check -->
-    <Exec Command="$(_DotNetPath) workload list" ConsoleToMsBuild="true" StandardOutputImportance="Low" />
+    <Exec Command="$(_DotNetPath) workload list" ConsoleToMsBuild="true" StandardOutputImportance="Low"
+          WorkingDirectory="$(_SdkWithNoWorkloadPath)" />
   </Target>
 
   <Target Name="_SetPackageVersionForWorkloadsTesting">
diff --git a/src/mono/wasi/Wasi.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs b/src/mono/wasi/Wasi.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs
index f0963a33b6a241..e884daf8305fdf 100644
--- a/src/mono/wasi/Wasi.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs
+++ b/src/mono/wasi/Wasi.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs
@@ -148,6 +148,12 @@ protected void InitProjectDir(string dir, bool addNuGetSourceForLocalPackages =
         {
             targetFramework ??= DefaultTargetFramework;
             Directory.CreateDirectory(dir);
+
+            // Create an empty global.json so the SDK resolver doesn't walk up
+            // to the repo root's global.json which may contain relative "paths"
+            // entries that don't apply in the test directory.
+            File.WriteAllText(Path.Combine(dir, "global.json"), "{}");
+
             File.WriteAllText(Path.Combine(dir, "Directory.Build.props"), s_buildEnv.DirectoryBuildPropsContents);
             File.WriteAllText(Path.Combine(dir, "Directory.Build.targets"), s_buildEnv.DirectoryBuildTargetsContents);
             File.Copy(BuildEnvironment.WasmOverridePacksTargetsPath, Path.Combine(dir, Path.GetFileName(BuildEnvironment.WasmOverridePacksTargetsPath)), overwrite: true);
diff --git a/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/Blazor/BlazorWasmTestBase.cs b/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/Blazor/BlazorWasmTestBase.cs
index 9c2ad7dfc8e59f..f60507ef843b29 100644
--- a/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/Blazor/BlazorWasmTestBase.cs
+++ b/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/Blazor/BlazorWasmTestBase.cs
@@ -90,6 +90,11 @@ public void InitBlazorWasmProjectDir(string id)
             Directory.Delete(_projectDir, recursive: true);
         Directory.CreateDirectory(_projectDir);
 
+        // Create an empty global.json so the SDK resolver doesn't walk up
+        // to the repo root's global.json which may contain relative "paths"
+        // entries that don't apply in the test directory.
+        File.WriteAllText(Path.Combine(_projectDir, "global.json"), "{}");
+
         File.WriteAllText(Path.Combine(_projectDir, "nuget.config"),
                             GetNuGetConfigWithLocalPackagesPath(
                                         GetNuGetConfigPath(),
diff --git a/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs b/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs
index 4e993991471be5..cbec148b060fcf 100644
--- a/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs
+++ b/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs
@@ -240,6 +240,12 @@ protected void InitProjectDir(string dir, bool addNuGetSourceForLocalPackages =
             if (Directory.Exists(dir))
                 Directory.Delete(dir, recursive: true);
             Directory.CreateDirectory(dir);
+
+            // Create an empty global.json so the SDK resolver doesn't walk up
+            // to the repo root's global.json which may contain relative "paths"
+            // entries that don't apply in the test directory.
+            File.WriteAllText(Path.Combine(dir, "global.json"), "{}");
+
             File.WriteAllText(Path.Combine(dir, "Directory.Build.props"), s_buildEnv.DirectoryBuildPropsContents);
             File.WriteAllText(Path.Combine(dir, "Directory.Build.targets"), s_buildEnv.DirectoryBuildTargetsContents);
             if (UseWBTOverridePackTargets)
diff --git a/src/tasks/WorkloadBuildTasks/InstallWorkloadFromArtifacts.cs b/src/tasks/WorkloadBuildTasks/InstallWorkloadFromArtifacts.cs
index 097be0d8484045..7e41409e8022ff 100644
--- a/src/tasks/WorkloadBuildTasks/InstallWorkloadFromArtifacts.cs
+++ b/src/tasks/WorkloadBuildTasks/InstallWorkloadFromArtifacts.cs
@@ -73,6 +73,12 @@ public override bool Execute()
 
             try
             {
+                // Create an empty global.json so the SDK resolver doesn't walk up to a
+                // parent global.json that may contain relative "paths" entries (e.g. ".dotnet").
+                // Without this, the workload install invokes dotnet from a different SDK directory
+                // but the resolver picks up the wrong SDK from the repo-local .dotnet directory.
+                File.WriteAllText(Path.Combine(_tempDir, "global.json"), "{}");
+
                 if (!Directory.Exists(SdkWithNoWorkloadInstalledPath))
                     throw new LogAsErrorException($"Cannot find {nameof(SdkWithNoWorkloadInstalledPath)}={SdkWithNoWorkloadInstalledPath}");