diff --git a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
index 09ce22c606..7b1e37b63b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tests.yaml
@@ -67,10 +67,6 @@ jobs:
       run: |
         pip install --upgrade pip setuptools wheel
         pip install -e ".[dev]"
-    - name: setup git
-      run: |
-        git config --global user.email "dvctester@example.com"
-        git config --global user.name "DVC Tester"
     - name: run tests
       timeout-minutes: 40
       run: >-
diff --git a/dvc/testing/tmp_dir.py b/dvc/testing/tmp_dir.py
index 4cfcbd926b..e79bec1601 100644
--- a/dvc/testing/tmp_dir.py
+++ b/dvc/testing/tmp_dir.py
@@ -51,8 +51,6 @@
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from functools import partialmethod
 
-from funcy import lmap, retry
-
 from dvc.utils import serialize
 from dvc.utils.fs import makedirs
 
@@ -62,7 +60,7 @@ class TmpDir(pathlib.Path):
 
     @property
     def fs_path(self):
-        return str(self)
+        return os.fspath(self)
 
     @property
     def url(self):
@@ -98,18 +96,18 @@ def init(self, *, scm=False, dvc=False, subdir=False):
         assert not scm or not hasattr(self, "scm")
         assert not dvc or not hasattr(self, "dvc")
 
-        str_path = os.fspath(self)
-
         if scm:
-            git_init(str_path)
+            Git.init(self.fs_path).close()
         if dvc:
             self.dvc = Repo.init(
-                str_path,
+                self.fs_path,
                 no_scm=not scm and not hasattr(self, "scm"),
                 subdir=subdir,
             )
         if scm:
-            self.scm = self.dvc.scm if hasattr(self, "dvc") else Git(str_path)
+            self.scm = (
+                self.dvc.scm if hasattr(self, "dvc") else Git(self.fs_path)
+            )
         if dvc and hasattr(self, "scm"):
             self.scm.commit("init dvc")
 
@@ -264,7 +262,7 @@ def modify(self, *args, **kwargs):
 def _coerce_filenames(filenames):
     if isinstance(filenames, (str, bytes, pathlib.PurePath)):
         filenames = [filenames]
-    return lmap(os.fspath, filenames)
+    return list(map(os.fspath, filenames))
 
 
 class WindowsTmpDir(TmpDir, pathlib.PureWindowsPath):
@@ -273,16 +271,3 @@ class WindowsTmpDir(TmpDir, pathlib.PureWindowsPath):
 
 class PosixTmpDir(TmpDir, pathlib.PurePosixPath):
     pass
-
-
-def git_init(path):
-    from git import Repo
-    from git.exc import GitCommandNotFound
-
-    # NOTE: handles EAGAIN error on BSD systems (osx in our case).
-    # Otherwise when running tests you might get this exception:
-    #
-    #    GitCommandNotFound: Cmd('git') not found due to:
-    #        OSError('[Errno 35] Resource temporarily unavailable')
-    git = retry(5, GitCommandNotFound)(Repo.init)(path)
-    git.close()
diff --git a/tests/basic_env.py b/tests/basic_env.py
index f5e246a021..536a8261c3 100644
--- a/tests/basic_env.py
+++ b/tests/basic_env.py
@@ -6,8 +6,6 @@
 
 import pytest
 import shortuuid
-from git import Repo
-from git.exc import GitCommandNotFound
 
 from dvc.repo import Repo as DvcRepo
 from dvc.utils.fs import remove
@@ -116,24 +114,11 @@ class TestGitFixture(TestDirFixture):
     N_RETRIES = 5
 
     def setUp(self):
+        from scmrepo.git import Git
+
         super().setUp()
-        # NOTE: handles EAGAIN error on BSD systems (osx in our case).
-        # Otherwise when running tests you might get this exception:
-        #
-        #    GitCommandNotFound: Cmd('git') not found due to:
-        #        OSError('[Errno 35] Resource temporarily unavailable')
-        retries = self.N_RETRIES
-        while True:
-            try:
-                self.git = Repo.init()
-                break
-            except GitCommandNotFound:
-                retries -= 1
-                if not retries:
-                    raise
-
-        self.git.index.add([self.CODE])
-        self.git.index.commit("add code")
+        self.git = Git.init(".")
+        self.git.add_commit(self.CODE, message="add code")
 
     def tearDown(self):
         self.git.close()
diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index f3ce802cb8..9a168ade0f 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import os
+import sys
 from contextlib import suppress
 
 import pytest
@@ -161,7 +162,7 @@ def pytest_configure(config):
             enabled_remotes.add(remote_name)
 
 
-@pytest.fixture()
+@pytest.fixture
 def custom_template(tmp_dir, dvc):
     try:
         import importlib_resources
@@ -185,3 +186,40 @@ def custom_template(tmp_dir, dvc):
 @pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
 def mocked_webbrowser_open(mocker):
     mocker.patch("webbrowser.open")
+
+
+@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
+def isolate(tmp_path_factory, monkeypatch) -> None:
+    path = tmp_path_factory.mktemp("mock")
+    home_dir = path / "home"
+    home_dir.mkdir()
+
+    if sys.platform == "win32":
+        home_drive, home_path = os.path.splitdrive(home_dir)
+        monkeypatch.setenv("USERPROFILE", str(home_dir))
+        monkeypatch.setenv("HOMEDRIVE", home_drive)
+        monkeypatch.setenv("HOMEPATH", home_path)
+
+        for env_var, sub_path in (
+            ("APPDATA", "Roaming"),
+            ("LOCALAPPDATA", "Local"),
+        ):
+            path = home_dir / "AppData" / sub_path
+            path.mkdir(parents=True)
+            monkeypatch.setenv(env_var, os.fspath(path))
+    else:
+        monkeypatch.setenv("HOME", str(home_dir))
+
+    monkeypatch.setenv("GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM", "1")
+    contents = b"""
+[user]
+name=DVC Tester
+email=dvctester@example.com
+[init]
+defaultBranch=master
+"""
+    (home_dir / ".gitconfig").write_bytes(contents)
+
+    import pygit2
+
+    pygit2.settings.search_path[pygit2.GIT_CONFIG_LEVEL_GLOBAL] = str(home_dir)
diff --git a/tests/dir_helpers.py b/tests/dir_helpers.py
index b1da1b3d41..e0943c7db8 100644
--- a/tests/dir_helpers.py
+++ b/tests/dir_helpers.py
@@ -52,19 +52,16 @@
 import pytest
 
 from dvc.logger import disable_other_loggers
-from dvc.testing.tmp_dir import git_init
 
 __all__ = [
     "run_copy",
     "run_head",
     "erepo_dir",
     "git_dir",
-    "git_init",
     "git_upstream",
     "git_downstream",
 ]
 
-
 # see https://github.com/iterative/dvc/issues/3167
 disable_other_loggers()
 
diff --git a/tests/func/metrics/test_diff.py b/tests/func/metrics/test_diff.py
index 40efcf88eb..6df35ba0ba 100644
--- a/tests/func/metrics/test_diff.py
+++ b/tests/func/metrics/test_diff.py
@@ -148,10 +148,9 @@ def test_no_commits(tmp_dir):
     from scmrepo.git import Git
 
     from dvc.repo import Repo
-    from tests.dir_helpers import git_init
 
-    git_init(".")
-    assert Git().no_commits
+    git = Git.init(tmp_dir.fs_path)
+    assert git.no_commits
 
     assert Repo.init().metrics.diff() == {}
 
diff --git a/tests/func/params/test_diff.py b/tests/func/params/test_diff.py
index f8afbaf5de..836e46893e 100644
--- a/tests/func/params/test_diff.py
+++ b/tests/func/params/test_diff.py
@@ -129,10 +129,9 @@ def test_no_commits(tmp_dir):
     from scmrepo.git import Git
 
     from dvc.repo import Repo
-    from tests.dir_helpers import git_init
 
-    git_init(".")
-    assert Git().no_commits
+    git = Git.init(tmp_dir.fs_path)
+    assert git.no_commits
 
     assert Repo.init().params.diff() == {}
 
diff --git a/tests/func/test_diff.py b/tests/func/test_diff.py
index 0fad451629..976facc46c 100644
--- a/tests/func/test_diff.py
+++ b/tests/func/test_diff.py
@@ -293,10 +293,9 @@ def test_no_commits(tmp_dir):
     from scmrepo.git import Git
 
     from dvc.repo import Repo
-    from tests.dir_helpers import git_init
 
-    git_init(".")
-    assert Git().no_commits
+    git = Git.init(tmp_dir.fs_path)
+    assert git.no_commits
 
     assert Repo.init().diff() == {}
 
diff --git a/tests/func/test_import.py b/tests/func/test_import.py
index d4d19c6219..0bc6f8b5bd 100644
--- a/tests/func/test_import.py
+++ b/tests/func/test_import.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 
 import pytest
 from funcy import first
+from scmrepo.git import Git
 
 from dvc.config import NoRemoteError
 from dvc.dvcfile import Dvcfile
@@ -268,9 +269,7 @@ def test_pull_wildcard_imported_directory_stage(tmp_dir, dvc, erepo_dir):
 def test_push_wildcard_from_bare_git_repo(
     tmp_dir, make_tmp_dir, erepo_dir, local_cloud
 ):
-    import git
-
-    git.Repo.init(os.fspath(tmp_dir), bare=True)
+    Git.init(tmp_dir.fs_path, bare=True).close()
 
     erepo_dir.add_remote(config=local_cloud.config)
     with erepo_dir.chdir():
@@ -381,9 +380,7 @@ def test_pull_no_rev_lock(erepo_dir, tmp_dir, dvc):
 def test_import_from_bare_git_repo(
     tmp_dir, make_tmp_dir, erepo_dir, local_cloud
 ):
-    import git
-
-    git.Repo.init(os.fspath(tmp_dir), bare=True)
+    Git.init(tmp_dir.fs_path, bare=True).close()
 
     erepo_dir.add_remote(config=local_cloud.config)
     with erepo_dir.chdir():
diff --git a/tests/unit/fs/test_ssh.py b/tests/unit/fs/test_ssh.py
index 60712e9b19..ff071091e8 100644
--- a/tests/unit/fs/test_ssh.py
+++ b/tests/unit/fs/test_ssh.py
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ def test_ssh_port(mock_file, config, expected_port):
         ),
         (
             {"host": "example.com"},
-            [os.path.expanduser("~/.ssh/not_default.key")],
+            ["~/.ssh/not_default.key"],
         ),
         (
             {
@@ -141,7 +141,12 @@ def test_ssh_port(mock_file, config, expected_port):
 )
 def test_ssh_keyfile(mock_file, config, expected_keyfile):
     fs = SSHFileSystem(**config)
-    assert fs.fs_args.get("client_keys") == expected_keyfile
+    expected_keyfiles = (
+        [os.path.expanduser(path) for path in expected_keyfile]
+        if expected_keyfile
+        else expected_keyfile
+    )
+    assert fs.fs_args.get("client_keys") == expected_keyfiles
 
 
 mock_ssh_multi_key_config = """