diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 8d0bd30..474a9ec 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ jobs:
     env:
       CARGO_NET_GIT_FETCH_WITH_CLI: "true"
     strategy:
-      fail-fast: true
+      fail-fast: false
       matrix:
         include:
           - target: x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
@@ -40,7 +40,15 @@ jobs:
           - target: x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
             os: windows-latest
     steps:
+      # Sparse checkout: building the binary only needs the crate sources and the
+      # root manifests. This also skips tests/fixtures, which contains an upstream
+      # fixture named CON.json — a reserved device name that git cannot check out
+      # on Windows (would fail the win32 job at checkout).
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          sparse-checkout: |
+            src
+            benches
 
       - name: Authenticate cargo git fetch (private quire-rs)
         shell: bash