diff --git a/scripts/end-to-end-tests.js b/scripts/end-to-end-tests.js
index 2825ccd5..b0ba5505 100644
--- a/scripts/end-to-end-tests.js
+++ b/scripts/end-to-end-tests.js
@@ -13,8 +13,7 @@
   }
 
   const childProcess = await import('child_process')
-  const { default: { buildBinary, dirname } } = await import('./esbuild.js')
-  const { default: rimraf } = await import('rimraf')
+  const { default: { buildBinary, dirname, removeRecursiveSync } } = await import('./esbuild.js')
   const assert = await import('assert')
   const path = await import('path')
   const util = await import('util')
@@ -2147,7 +2146,7 @@
           }
 
           // Clean up test output
-          rimraf.sync(thisTestDir, { disableGlob: true });
+          removeRecursiveSync(thisTestDir)
         }
 
         catch (e) {
@@ -2156,7 +2155,7 @@
               assert.strictEqual(e.stderr, expectedStderr);
 
               // Clean up test output
-              rimraf.sync(thisTestDir, { disableGlob: true });
+              removeRecursiveSync(thisTestDir)
               continue;
             } catch (e2) {
               e = e2;
@@ -2193,7 +2192,7 @@
         })
 
         // Clean up test output
-        rimraf.sync(thisTestDir, { disableGlob: true })
+        removeRecursiveSync(thisTestDir)
       } catch (e) {
         console.error(`❌ test failed: ${e && e.message || e}
   dir: ${path.relative(dirname, thisTestDir)}`)
@@ -2205,7 +2204,7 @@
   }
 
   // Create a fresh test directory
-  rimraf.sync(testDir, { disableGlob: true })
+  removeRecursiveSync(testDir)
   await fs.mkdir(testDir, { recursive: true })
 
   // Run all tests concurrently
@@ -2216,8 +2215,6 @@
     process.exit(1)
   } else {
     console.log(`✅ end-to-end tests passed`)
-
-    // Clean up test output
-    rimraf.sync(testDir, { disableGlob: true })
+    removeRecursiveSync(testDir)
   }
 })().catch(e => setTimeout(() => { throw e }))
diff --git a/scripts/es6-fuzzer.js b/scripts/es6-fuzzer.js
index 9156e3e7..bc18e6a9 100644
--- a/scripts/es6-fuzzer.js
+++ b/scripts/es6-fuzzer.js
@@ -16,8 +16,7 @@
     return
   }
 
-  const { default: { buildBinary, dirname } } = await import('./esbuild.js');
-  const { default: rimraf } = await import('rimraf');
+  const { default: { buildBinary, dirname, removeRecursiveSync } } = await import('./esbuild.js');
   const childProcess = await import('child_process');
   const util = await import('util');
   const path = await import('path');
@@ -120,11 +119,11 @@
     }
 
     // Remove data for successful tests
-    rimraf.sync(testDir, { disableGlob: true });
+    removeRecursiveSync(testDir);
   }
 
   const parentDir = path.join(dirname, '.es6-fuzzer');
-  rimraf.sync(parentDir, { disableGlob: true });
+  removeRecursiveSync(parentDir);
   fs.mkdirSync(parentDir);
 
   // Run a set number of tests in parallel
@@ -140,6 +139,6 @@
 
   // Remove everything if all tests passed
   if (failureCount === 0) {
-    rimraf.sync(parentDir, { disableGlob: true });
+    removeRecursiveSync(parentDir);
   }
 })().catch(e => setTimeout(() => { throw e }));
diff --git a/scripts/esbuild.js b/scripts/esbuild.js
index 39dabb39..28b908f4 100644
--- a/scripts/esbuild.js
+++ b/scripts/esbuild.js
@@ -112,6 +112,26 @@ exports.buildBinary = () => {
   return path.join(repoDir, process.platform === 'win32' ? 'esbuild.exe' : 'esbuild')
 }
 
+exports.removeRecursiveSync = path => {
+  try {
+    // Strangely node doesn't have a function to remove a directory tree.
+    // Using "rm -fr" will never work on Windows because the "rm" command
+    // doesn't exist. Using the "rimraf" should be cross-platform and even
+    // works on Windows some of the time.
+    rimraf.sync(testDir, { disableGlob: true })
+  } catch (e) {
+    // Removing stuff on Windows is flaky and unreliable. Don't fail tests
+    // on CI if Windows is just being a pain. Common causes of flakes include
+    // random EPERM and ENOTEMPTY errors.
+    //
+    // The general "solution" to this is to try asking Windows to redo the
+    // failing operation repeatedly until eventually giving up after a
+    // timeout. But that doesn't guarantee that flakes will be fixed so we
+    // just give up instead. People that want reasonable file system
+    // behavior on Windows should use WSL instead.
+  }
+}
+
 exports.installForTests = () => {
   // Build the "esbuild" binary and library
   const esbuildPath = exports.buildBinary()
diff --git a/scripts/js-api-tests.js b/scripts/js-api-tests.js
index 06dfa759..3d3283a1 100644
--- a/scripts/js-api-tests.js
+++ b/scripts/js-api-tests.js
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
-const { installForTests } = require('./esbuild')
+const { installForTests, removeRecursiveSync } = require('./esbuild')
 const { SourceMapConsumer } = require('source-map')
-const rimraf = require('rimraf')
 const assert = require('assert')
 const path = require('path')
 const http = require('http')
@@ -2299,7 +2298,7 @@ async function main() {
   const esbuild = installForTests()
 
   // Create a fresh test directory
-  rimraf.sync(rootTestDir, { disableGlob: true })
+  removeRecursiveSync(rootTestDir)
   fs.mkdirSync(rootTestDir)
 
   // Time out these tests after 5 minutes. This exists to help debug test hangs in CI.
@@ -2318,7 +2317,7 @@ async function main() {
     try {
       await mkdirAsync(testDir)
       await fn({ esbuild, service, testDir })
-      rimraf.sync(testDir, { disableGlob: true })
+      removeRecursiveSync(testDir)
       return true
     } catch (e) {
       console.error(`❌ ${name}: ${e && e.message || e}`)
@@ -2346,24 +2345,7 @@ async function main() {
     process.exit(1)
   } else {
     console.log(`✅ js api tests passed`)
-
-    // This randomly fails with EPERM on Windows in CI (GitHub Actions):
-    //
-    //   Error: EPERM: operation not permitted: unlink 'esbuild\scripts\.js-api-tests\node_modules\esbuild\esbuild.exe'
-    //       at Object.unlinkSync (fs.js)
-    //       at fixWinEPERMSync (esbuild\scripts\node_modules\rimraf\rimraf.js)
-    //       at rimrafSync (esbuild\scripts\node_modules\rimraf\rimraf.js)
-    //
-    // From searching related issues on GitHub it looks like apparently this is
-    // just how Windows works? It's kind of hard to believe something as
-    // fundamental as file operations is broken on Windows. It sounds like the
-    // file system implementation on Windows has race conditions or something.
-    // Anyway, deleting this is not important for the success of the test so
-    // just ignore errors here.
-    try {
-      rimraf.sync(rootTestDir, { disableGlob: true })
-    } catch (e) {
-    }
+    removeRecursiveSync(rootTestDir)
   }
 
   clearTimeout(timeout);
diff --git a/scripts/plugin-tests.js b/scripts/plugin-tests.js
index 15625842..ef269b1a 100644
--- a/scripts/plugin-tests.js
+++ b/scripts/plugin-tests.js
@@ -1,5 +1,4 @@
-const { installForTests } = require('./esbuild')
-const rimraf = require('rimraf')
+const { installForTests, removeRecursiveSync } = require('./esbuild')
 const assert = require('assert')
 const path = require('path')
 const util = require('util')
@@ -966,7 +965,7 @@ async function main() {
   const esbuild = installForTests()
 
   // Create a fresh test directory
-  rimraf.sync(rootTestDir, { disableGlob: true })
+  removeRecursiveSync(rootTestDir)
   fs.mkdirSync(rootTestDir)
 
   // Time out these tests after 5 minutes. This exists to help debug test hangs in CI.
@@ -985,7 +984,7 @@ async function main() {
     try {
       await mkdirAsync(testDir)
       await fn({ esbuild, service, testDir })
-      rimraf.sync(testDir, { disableGlob: true })
+      removeRecursiveSync(testDir)
       return true
     } catch (e) {
       console.error(`❌ ${name}: ${e && e.message || e}`)
@@ -1003,13 +1002,7 @@ async function main() {
     process.exit(1)
   } else {
     console.log(`✅ plugin tests passed`)
-
-    try {
-      rimraf.sync(rootTestDir, { disableGlob: true })
-    } catch (e) {
-      // This doesn't work on Windows due to "EPERM: operation not permitted"
-      // but that's ok for CI because the VM will just be thrown away anyway.
-    }
+    removeRecursiveSync(rootTestDir)
   }
 
   clearTimeout(timeout);
diff --git a/scripts/register-test.js b/scripts/register-test.js
index 8c1cb0e4..3a5ef832 100644
--- a/scripts/register-test.js
+++ b/scripts/register-test.js
@@ -1,14 +1,13 @@
-const { installForTests } = require('./esbuild')
+const { installForTests, removeRecursiveSync } = require('./esbuild')
 const child_process = require('child_process')
 const path = require('path')
 const fs = require('fs')
-const rimraf = require('rimraf')
 const assert = require('assert')
 const esbuild = installForTests()
 
 // Create a fresh test directory
 const rootTestDir = path.join(__dirname, '.register-test')
-rimraf.sync(rootTestDir, { disableGlob: true })
+removeRecursiveSync(rootTestDir)
 fs.mkdirSync(rootTestDir)
 
 const entry = path.join(rootTestDir, 'entry.ts')
@@ -49,12 +48,7 @@ async function main() {
 main().then(
   () => {
     console.log(`✅ register test passed`)
-    try {
-      rimraf.sync(rootTestDir, { disableGlob: true })
-    } catch (e) {
-      // This doesn't work on Windows due to "EPERM: operation not permitted"
-      // but that's ok for CI because the VM will just be thrown away anyway.
-    }
+    removeRecursiveSync(rootTestDir)
   },
   e => {
     console.error(`❌ register test failed: ${e && e.message || e}`)
diff --git a/scripts/ts-type-tests.js b/scripts/ts-type-tests.js
index c4873763..201375f8 100644
--- a/scripts/ts-type-tests.js
+++ b/scripts/ts-type-tests.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
+const { removeRecursiveSync } = require('./esbuild')
 const child_process = require('child_process')
-const rimraf = require('rimraf')
 const path = require('path')
 const fs = require('fs')
 
@@ -318,7 +318,7 @@ const tests = {
 
 async function main() {
   let testDir = path.join(__dirname, '.ts-types-test')
-  rimraf.sync(testDir, { disableGlob: true })
+  removeRecursiveSync(testDir)
   fs.mkdirSync(testDir, { recursive: true })
   fs.writeFileSync(path.join(testDir, 'tsconfig.json'), JSON.stringify(tsconfigJson))
 
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@ async function main() {
     process.exit(1)
   } else {
     console.log(`✅ typescript type tests passed`)
-    rimraf.sync(testDir, { disableGlob: true })
+    removeRecursiveSync(testDir)
   }
 }
 
diff --git a/scripts/verify-source-map.js b/scripts/verify-source-map.js
index 642bb2e1..ac96bc66 100644
--- a/scripts/verify-source-map.js
+++ b/scripts/verify-source-map.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 const { SourceMapConsumer } = require('source-map')
-const { buildBinary } = require('./esbuild')
+const { buildBinary, removeRecursiveSync } = require('./esbuild')
 const childProcess = require('child_process')
-const rimraf = require('rimraf')
 const path = require('path')
 const util = require('util')
 const fs = require('fs').promises
@@ -341,7 +340,7 @@ async function check(kind, testCase, toSearch, { flags, entryPoints, crlf }) {
       checkMap(out2Js, out2Map, tempDir)
     }
 
-    if (!failed) rimraf.sync(tempDir, { disableGlob: true })
+    if (!failed) removeRecursiveSync(tempDir)
   }
 
   catch (e) {
@@ -424,7 +423,7 @@ async function main() {
     process.exit(1)
   } else {
     console.log(`✅ verify source map passed`)
-    rimraf.sync(testDir, { disableGlob: true })
+    removeRecursiveSync(testDir)
   }
 }