diff --git a/src/installer/tests/Assets/Projects/Directory.Build.props b/src/installer/tests/Assets/Projects/Directory.Build.props
index 2d331dfb98451d..00ec8bf7777050 100644
--- a/src/installer/tests/Assets/Projects/Directory.Build.props
+++ b/src/installer/tests/Assets/Projects/Directory.Build.props
@@ -1,6 +1,42 @@
 <Project>
-  <Import Project="$([MSBuild]::GetPathOfFileAbove(Directory.Build.props, $(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..))" />
+  <!-- Calculate necessary paths manually without depending on repo-level properties -->
+  <PropertyGroup>
+    <!-- Determine the repo root by walking up from this directory.
+         Hard-coded path traversal is intentional to avoid automatic discovery of parent Directory.Build.props.
+         Path: src/installer/tests/Assets/Projects -> repo root requires 5 levels up. -->
+    <RepoRoot>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory('$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)', '..', '..', '..', '..', '..'))</RepoRoot>
+    <RepositoryEngineeringDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory('$(RepoRoot)', 'eng'))</RepositoryEngineeringDir>
+    <ArtifactsDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory('$(RepoRoot)', 'artifacts'))</ArtifactsDir>
+    <ArtifactsBinDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory('$(ArtifactsDir)', 'bin'))</ArtifactsBinDir>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+
+  <!-- Import Versions.props to get MajorVersion/MinorVersion for NetCoreAppCurrentVersion -->
+  <Import Project="$(RepositoryEngineeringDir)Versions.props" />
+
+  <!-- Define the target framework version these test assets should build against -->
+  <PropertyGroup>
+    <NetCoreAppCurrentVersion Condition="'$(NetCoreAppCurrentVersion)' == ''">$(MajorVersion).$(MinorVersion)</NetCoreAppCurrentVersion>
+    <NetCoreAppCurrent>net$(NetCoreAppCurrentVersion)</NetCoreAppCurrent>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+
+  <PropertyGroup>
+    <MicrosoftNetCoreAppRefPackDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory('$(ArtifactsBinDir)', 'microsoft.netcore.app.ref'))</MicrosoftNetCoreAppRefPackDir>
+    <MicrosoftNetCoreAppRefPackRefDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory('$(MicrosoftNetCoreAppRefPackDir)', 'ref', '$(NetCoreAppCurrent)'))</MicrosoftNetCoreAppRefPackRefDir>
+    <MicrosoftNetCoreAppRefPackDataDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory('$(MicrosoftNetCoreAppRefPackDir)', 'data'))</MicrosoftNetCoreAppRefPackDataDir>
+
+    <MicrosoftNetCoreAppRuntimePackDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory('$(ArtifactsBinDir)', 'microsoft.netcore.app.runtime.$(TargetRid)', '$(LibrariesConfiguration)'))</MicrosoftNetCoreAppRuntimePackDir>
+    <MicrosoftNetCoreAppRuntimePackRidDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory('$(MicrosoftNetCoreAppRuntimePackDir)', 'runtimes', '$(TargetRid)'))</MicrosoftNetCoreAppRuntimePackRidDir>
+    <MicrosoftNetCoreAppRuntimePackRidLibTfmDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory('$(MicrosoftNetCoreAppRuntimePackRidDir)', 'lib', '$(NetCoreAppCurrent)'))</MicrosoftNetCoreAppRuntimePackRidLibTfmDir>
+    <MicrosoftNetCoreAppRuntimePackNativeDir>$([MSBuild]::NormalizeDirectory('$(MicrosoftNetCoreAppRuntimePackRidDir)', 'native'))</MicrosoftNetCoreAppRuntimePackNativeDir>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+
+  <PropertyGroup>
+    <!-- Allow nullable, but don't check for correctness -->
+    <Nullable>annotations</Nullable>
+    <RunAnalyzers>false</RunAnalyzers>
+  </PropertyGroup>
 
+  <!-- Test asset build configuration -->
   <PropertyGroup>
     <EnableDefaultItems>true</EnableDefaultItems>
     <UseLocalTargetingRuntimePack>true</UseLocalTargetingRuntimePack>
diff --git a/src/installer/tests/Assets/Projects/HelloWorld/SelfContained.csproj b/src/installer/tests/Assets/Projects/HelloWorld/SelfContained.csproj
index d2014e98987476..b1a478e36efd99 100644
--- a/src/installer/tests/Assets/Projects/HelloWorld/SelfContained.csproj
+++ b/src/installer/tests/Assets/Projects/HelloWorld/SelfContained.csproj
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
   <PropertyGroup>
     <AssemblyName>HelloWorld</AssemblyName>
-    <TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>
+    <TargetFramework>$(NetCoreAppCurrent)</TargetFramework>
     <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
     <SelfContained>true</SelfContained>
     <AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath>true</AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath>