diff --git a/scripts/ensure_state_db_read_indexes.py b/scripts/ensure_state_db_read_indexes.py
index 2eedc9a4..31dce342 100644
--- a/scripts/ensure_state_db_read_indexes.py
+++ b/scripts/ensure_state_db_read_indexes.py
@@ -67,9 +67,11 @@ def _exclusive_lock(lock_file):
             # Lock one byte at offset 0 without blocking; raises OSError when held.
             # ``a+`` may have just created an empty file, and Windows cannot lock
             # a range beyond EOF, so make sure byte 0 exists first. An existing
-            # (deployment-owned) lock file is left untouched.
+            # (deployment-owned) lock file is left untouched. Write the byte on
+            # the descriptor: a text-mode ``handle.write("\n")`` becomes two
+            # bytes (``\r\n``) on native Windows.
             if os.fstat(handle.fileno()).st_size == 0:
-                handle.write("\n")
+                os.write(handle.fileno(), b"\0")
                 handle.flush()
             handle.seek(0)
             msvcrt.locking(handle.fileno(), msvcrt.LK_NBLCK, 1)
diff --git a/tests/test_issue2628_cli_sessions_perf.py b/tests/test_issue2628_cli_sessions_perf.py
index 556e5509..950a6028 100644
--- a/tests/test_issue2628_cli_sessions_perf.py
+++ b/tests/test_issue2628_cli_sessions_perf.py
@@ -209,12 +209,8 @@ def test_importable_agent_rows_push_sidebar_limit_into_sql(tmp_path):
     assert "JOIN candidates c ON c.id = s.id" in src
     assert "latest_messages AS" in src
     assert "LEFT JOIN latest_messages lm ON lm.session_id = s.id" in src
-    # Pre-aggregation covers every missing-index projection, not only cron (#7445 review).
-    assert 'included == ("cron",)' not in src
     assert "not messages_index_present" in src
     assert "PRAGMA index_list(messages)" in src
-    # Listing is a pure read: index creation lives in the drained maintenance tool.
-    assert "CREATE INDEX IF NOT EXISTS idx_messages_session" not in src
     assert "_CRON_PREAGGREGATE_CANDIDATE_ORDER_MIN_MESSAGES" not in src
     assert "MAX(mx.timestamp) FROM messages mx WHERE mx.session_id = s.id" in src
     assert "candidate_limit = max(result_limit * 8, result_limit)" in src
diff --git a/tests/test_pr7445_readonly_review_followups.py b/tests/test_pr7445_readonly_review_followups.py
index f99c1548..4239afaa 100644
--- a/tests/test_pr7445_readonly_review_followups.py
+++ b/tests/test_pr7445_readonly_review_followups.py
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ Contract under test:
   there with a clear error instead of an ``ImportError`` at import time;
 * on the ``msvcrt`` branch the tool locks byte 0 of the lock file only after
   making sure that byte exists, so a fresh (empty) ``--lock-file`` is acquired
-  without relying on the CRT's beyond-EOF locking behaviour.
+  without relying on the CRT's beyond-EOF locking behaviour; that byte is
+  written as exactly one byte even under the ``\\n`` → ``\\r\\n`` translation
+  native Windows applies to text-mode handles.
 """
 import importlib
 import os
@@ -291,7 +293,20 @@ class _StrictMsvcrt:
             raise OSError(36, "Resource deadlock avoided: lock region beyond end of file")
 
 
-def test_windows_lock_branch_acquires_a_fresh_empty_lock_file(tmp_path, maintenance_without_fcntl, monkeypatch):
+@pytest.fixture
+def windows_text_mode(maintenance_without_fcntl, monkeypatch):
+    """Make the tool's text-mode ``open`` translate ``\\n`` to ``\\r\\n`` as on native Windows."""
+    real_open = open
+
+    def crlf_text_open(file, mode="r", *args, **kwargs):
+        if "b" not in mode:
+            kwargs.setdefault("newline", "\r\n")
+        return real_open(file, mode, *args, **kwargs)
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(maintenance_without_fcntl, "open", crlf_text_open, raising=False)
+
+
+def test_windows_lock_branch_acquires_a_fresh_empty_lock_file(tmp_path, maintenance_without_fcntl, windows_text_mode, monkeypatch):
     module = maintenance_without_fcntl
     assert module.fcntl is None  # the fixture already routes the tool to the msvcrt branch
     fake = _StrictMsvcrt()
@@ -305,7 +320,8 @@ def test_windows_lock_branch_acquires_a_fresh_empty_lock_file(tmp_path, maintena
     result = module.ensure_read_indexes(path, confirmed_drained=True, lock_file=lock)
 
     assert set(result.values()) == {"created"}
-    # Exactly one non-blocking lock on byte 0, taken while that byte existed.
+    # Exactly one non-blocking lock on byte 0, taken while that byte existed
+    # and was the only one: no newline translation may inflate the file.
     assert fake.calls == [(fake.LK_NBLCK, 0, 1, 1)]
     assert lock.stat().st_size == 1
     with closing(sqlite3.connect(str(path))) as conn:
@@ -329,7 +345,7 @@ def test_windows_lock_branch_keeps_an_existing_lock_file_intact(tmp_path, mainte
     assert lock.read_bytes() == b"deployment-owned\n"
 
 
-def test_windows_lock_branch_reports_a_held_lock_without_touching_the_db(tmp_path, maintenance_without_fcntl, monkeypatch):
+def test_windows_lock_branch_reports_a_held_lock_without_touching_the_db(tmp_path, maintenance_without_fcntl, windows_text_mode, monkeypatch):
     module = maintenance_without_fcntl
 
     class _HeldMsvcrt(_StrictMsvcrt):