diff --git a/eng/liveBuilds.targets b/eng/liveBuilds.targets
index be20c6f295177e..fcda36b713b240 100644
--- a/eng/liveBuilds.targets
+++ b/eng/liveBuilds.targets
@@ -118,16 +118,6 @@
       <MonoIncludeFiles Include="$(MonoArtifactsPath)\include\**\*.*" />
     </ItemGroup>
 
-    <!-- Host files. Mobile uses a different hosting model, so we don't include the .NET host components there. -->
-    <ItemGroup Condition="'$(TargetsMobile)' != 'true' and Exists('$(DotNetHostBinDir)')">
-      <RuntimeFiles Include="$(DotNetHostBinDir)\$(LibPrefix)hostpolicy$(LibSuffix)">
-        <IsNative>true</IsNative>
-      </RuntimeFiles>
-      <RuntimeFiles Include="$(DotNetHostBinDir)\$(LibPrefix)hostfxr$(LibSuffix)">
-        <IsNative>true</IsNative>
-      </RuntimeFiles>
-    </ItemGroup>
-
     <Error Condition="'@(RuntimeFiles)' == ''" Text="The '$(RuntimeFlavor)' subset must be built before building this project." />
   </Target>
 
diff --git a/eng/pipelines/installer/jobs/base-job.yml b/eng/pipelines/installer/jobs/base-job.yml
index a93fc90323ff0a..65093545cb1d81 100644
--- a/eng/pipelines/installer/jobs/base-job.yml
+++ b/eng/pipelines/installer/jobs/base-job.yml
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: BuildArguments
       value: >-
-        -subset host+packs -ci
+        -subset host+libs.pretest+packs -ci
         $(BuildAction)
         /p:CrossBuild=${{ parameters.crossBuild }}
         /p:PortableBuild=$(_PortableBuild)
diff --git a/src/libraries/externals.csproj b/src/libraries/externals.csproj
index 7774650719390c..220766b2d3e543 100644
--- a/src/libraries/externals.csproj
+++ b/src/libraries/externals.csproj
@@ -75,12 +75,24 @@
           DependsOnTargets="ResolveRuntimeFilesFromLocalBuild"
           AfterTargets="AfterResolveReferences"
           Condition="'$(RuntimeFlavor)' != 'Mono' and '$(TestNativeAot)' != 'true'">
+
+    <!-- Host files. Mobile uses a different hosting model, so we don't include the .NET host components there. -->
+    <ItemGroup Condition="'$(TargetsMobile)' != 'true' and Exists('$(DotNetHostBinDir)')">
+      <RuntimeFiles Include="$(DotNetHostBinDir)\$(LibPrefix)hostpolicy$(LibSuffix)">
+        <IsNative>true</IsNative>
+      </RuntimeFiles>
+      <RuntimeFiles Include="$(DotNetHostBinDir)\$(LibPrefix)hostfxr$(LibSuffix)">
+        <IsNative>true</IsNative>
+      </RuntimeFiles>
+    </ItemGroup>
+
     <ItemGroup>
       <!-- CoreRun is not used for testing anymore, but we still use it for benchmarking and profiling -->
       <RuntimeFiles Include="$(CoreCLRArtifactsPath)\corerun*" />
       <RuntimeFiles Include="$(CoreCLRArtifactsPath)\PDB\corerun*" />
       <ReferenceCopyLocalPaths Include="@(RuntimeFiles)" />
     </ItemGroup>
+
     <ItemGroup Condition="'$(SwapNativeForIL)' == 'true'">
       <CoreCLRILFiles Include="$(CoreCLRArtifactsPath)\IL\*.*" />
       <ReferenceCopyLocalPaths Remove="@(ReferenceCopyLocalPaths)" Condition="'@(CoreCLRILFiles->'%(FileName)%(Extension)')' == '%(FileName)%(Extension)'" />