diff --git a/eng/testing/workloads-testing.targets b/eng/testing/workloads-testing.targets
index 5b8e0abce741eb..d5ccce0f64322b 100644
--- a/eng/testing/workloads-testing.targets
+++ b/eng/testing/workloads-testing.targets
@@ -190,7 +190,6 @@
                      LocalNuGetsPath="$(LibrariesShippingPackagesDir)"
                      TemplateNuGetConfigPath="$(RepoRoot)NuGet.config"
                      SdkWithNoWorkloadInstalledPath="$(_SdkWithNoWorkloadPath)"
-                     SkipUpdateAppRefPack="true"
       />
 
     <Touch Files="$(_SdkWithNoWorkloadStampPath)" AlwaysCreate="true" />
diff --git a/src/mono/nuget/Microsoft.NET.Workload.Mono.Toolchain.Current.Manifest/WorkloadManifest.targets.in b/src/mono/nuget/Microsoft.NET.Workload.Mono.Toolchain.Current.Manifest/WorkloadManifest.targets.in
index 061fea9acaa14c..6569a88712d583 100644
--- a/src/mono/nuget/Microsoft.NET.Workload.Mono.Toolchain.Current.Manifest/WorkloadManifest.targets.in
+++ b/src/mono/nuget/Microsoft.NET.Workload.Mono.Toolchain.Current.Manifest/WorkloadManifest.targets.in
@@ -182,6 +182,9 @@
       <!-- Overrides for wasm threading support -->
       <RuntimePackNamePatterns Condition="'$(RuntimeIdentifier)' == 'browser-wasm' and '$(WasmEnableThreads)' == 'true'">Microsoft.NETCore.App.Runtime.Mono.multithread.**RID**</RuntimePackNamePatterns>
     </KnownRuntimePack>
+    <KnownFrameworkReference Update="Microsoft.NETCore.App">
+      <TargetingPackVersion Condition="'$(TargetsCurrent)' == 'true'">$(_MonoWorkloadRuntimePackPackageVersion)</TargetingPackVersion>
+    </KnownFrameworkReference>
     <KnownWebAssemblySdkPack Update="@(KnownWebAssemblySdkPack)">
       <WebAssemblySdkPackVersion Condition="'%(KnownWebAssemblySdkPack.TargetFramework)' == '${NetCoreAppCurrent}'">$(_KnownWebAssemblySdkPackVersion)</WebAssemblySdkPackVersion>
       <WebAssemblySdkPackVersion Condition="'%(KnownWebAssemblySdkPack.TargetFramework)' == 'net8.0'">$(_KnownWebAssemblySdkPackVersion)</WebAssemblySdkPackVersion>
diff --git a/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs b/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs
index 82bb029fdac7e5..0ed147a41f7a35 100644
--- a/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs
+++ b/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/BuildTestBase.cs
@@ -334,7 +334,7 @@ protected void InitPaths(string id)
             Directory.CreateDirectory(_logPath);
         }
 
-        protected void InitProjectDir(string dir, bool addNuGetSourceForLocalPackages = false, string targetFramework = DefaultTargetFramework)
+        protected void InitProjectDir(string dir, bool addNuGetSourceForLocalPackages = true, string targetFramework = DefaultTargetFramework)
         {
             Directory.CreateDirectory(dir);
             File.WriteAllText(Path.Combine(dir, "Directory.Build.props"), s_buildEnv.DirectoryBuildPropsContents);
diff --git a/src/tasks/WorkloadBuildTasks/InstallWorkloadFromArtifacts.cs b/src/tasks/WorkloadBuildTasks/InstallWorkloadFromArtifacts.cs
index 81a8d450de7510..c43b416dc67c78 100644
--- a/src/tasks/WorkloadBuildTasks/InstallWorkloadFromArtifacts.cs
+++ b/src/tasks/WorkloadBuildTasks/InstallWorkloadFromArtifacts.cs
@@ -42,7 +42,6 @@ public partial class InstallWorkloadFromArtifacts : Task
         [Required, NotNull]
         public string         SdkWithNoWorkloadInstalledPath { get; set; } = string.Empty;
 
-        public bool           SkipUpdateAppRefPack { get; set; }
         public bool           OnlyUpdateManifests{ get; set; }
 
         private const string s_nugetInsertionTag = "<!-- TEST_RESTORE_SOURCES_INSERTION_LINE -->";
@@ -159,11 +158,6 @@ private bool ExecuteInternal(InstallWorkloadRequest req)
             if (!InstallPacks(req, nugetConfigContents))
                 return false;
 
-            if (!SkipUpdateAppRefPack)
-                UpdateAppRef(req.TargetPath, req.Version);
-            else
-                Log.LogMessage(MessageImportance.Low, "Skipping update of app.ref pack");
-
             return !Log.HasLoggedErrors;
         }
 
@@ -256,31 +250,6 @@ private bool InstallPacks(InstallWorkloadRequest req, string nugetConfigContents
             return !Log.HasLoggedErrors;
         }
 
-        private void UpdateAppRef(string sdkPath, string version)
-        {
-            Log.LogMessage(MessageImportance.Normal, $"    - Updating Targeting pack");
-
-            string pkgPath = Path.Combine(LocalNuGetsPath, $"Microsoft.NETCore.App.Ref.{version}.nupkg");
-            if (!File.Exists(pkgPath))
-                throw new LogAsErrorException($"Could not find {pkgPath} needed to update the targeting pack to the newly built one." +
-                                                " Make sure to build the subset `packs`, like `./build.sh -os browser -s mono+libs+packs`.");
-
-            string packDir = Path.Combine(sdkPath, "packs", "Microsoft.NETCore.App.Ref");
-            string[] dirs = Directory.EnumerateDirectories(packDir).ToArray();
-            if (dirs.Length != 1)
-                throw new LogAsErrorException($"Expected to find exactly one versioned directory under {packDir}, but got " +
-                                                string.Join(',', dirs));
-
-            string dstDir = dirs[0];
-
-            Directory.Delete(dstDir, recursive: true);
-            Log.LogMessage($"Deleting {dstDir}");
-
-            Directory.CreateDirectory(dstDir);
-            ZipFile.ExtractToDirectory(pkgPath, dstDir);
-            Log.LogMessage($"Extracting {pkgPath} to {dstDir}");
-        }
-
         private string GetNuGetConfig()
         {
             string contents = File.ReadAllText(TemplateNuGetConfigPath);