diff --git a/scripts/verify/android/windows-guardian-isolation.mjs b/scripts/verify/android/windows-guardian-isolation.mjs
index 1a6308970a..98fa9553fb 100644
--- a/scripts/verify/android/windows-guardian-isolation.mjs
+++ b/scripts/verify/android/windows-guardian-isolation.mjs
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@ const marker = "REA synthetic guardian isolation test\n";
 const exists = (path) =>
   stat(path).then(
     () => true,
-    () => false,
+    (cause) => {
+      if (cause.code === "ENOENT" || cause.code === "ENOTDIR") return false;
+      throw cause;
+    },
   );
 
 if (process.argv[1] === source && process.argv[2] === "owner") {
diff --git a/tests/boundary/process/androidGuardianObservation.test.ts b/tests/boundary/process/androidGuardianObservation.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d8f6ade9fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/boundary/process/androidGuardianObservation.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+import { EventEmitter } from "node:events";
+import { PassThrough } from "node:stream";
+import { expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+const observation = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+  serial: 0,
+  failure: Object.assign(new Error("inert workspace observation"), {
+    code: "ENOENT",
+  }),
+}));
+vi.mock("node:fs/promises", async (original) => {
+  const fs = await original<typeof import("node:fs/promises")>();
+  return {
+    ...fs,
+    stat: async (...args: Parameters<typeof fs.stat>) => {
+      if (!String(args[0]).startsWith("/rea-inert/")) return fs.stat(...args);
+      if (String(args[0]).endsWith("synthetic.txt")) return {};
+      throw observation.failure;
+    },
+  };
+});
+vi.mock("node:child_process", async (original) => {
+  const cp = await original<typeof import("node:child_process")>();
+  return {
+    ...cp,
+    spawn: (...args: Parameters<typeof cp.spawn>) => {
+      if (args[1]?.[1] !== "owner") return cp.spawn(...args);
+      const events = new EventEmitter();
+      const child = Object.assign(events, {
+        stdout: new PassThrough(),
+        stderr: new PassThrough(),
+        exitCode: null as number | null,
+        signalCode: null,
+        kill() {
+          this.exitCode = 0;
+          events.emit("close", 0);
+          return true;
+        },
+      });
+      const path = `/rea-inert/owned-${++observation.serial}`;
+      queueMicrotask(() => child.stdout.write(JSON.stringify({ path }) + "\n"));
+      return child;
+    },
+  };
+});
+const { verifyWindowsGuardianIsolation } = await vi.importActual<{
+  verifyWindowsGuardianIsolation(): Promise<void>;
+}>("../../../scripts/verify/android/windows-guardian-isolation.mjs");
+
+it.each(["ENOENT", "ENOTDIR", "EACCES", "EIO"])(
+  "admits only known workspace absence after owner exit (%s)",
+  async (code) => {
+    observation.failure = Object.assign(new Error(`inert stat ${code}`), {
+      code,
+    });
+    const original = Object.getOwnPropertyDescriptor(process, "platform");
+    if (original === undefined) throw new Error("Platform descriptor missing");
+    Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", { ...original, value: "win32" });
+    try {
+      const result = verifyWindowsGuardianIsolation();
+      if (code === "ENOENT" || code === "ENOTDIR")
+        await expect(result).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+      else await expect(result).rejects.toBe(observation.failure);
+    } finally {
+      Object.defineProperty(process, "platform", original);
+    }
+  },
+);