diff --git a/.github/actions/setup-node-env/action.yml b/.github/actions/setup-node-env/action.yml
index 7e1206e9e594..8b2bc1c4b675 100644
--- a/.github/actions/setup-node-env/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/setup-node-env/action.yml
@@ -387,6 +387,12 @@ runs:
         append_pnpm_option_arg PNPM_CONFIG_NETWORK_CONCURRENCY network-concurrency
         append_pnpm_option_arg PNPM_CONFIG_STORE_DIR store-dir
         append_pnpm_option_arg PNPM_CONFIG_VIRTUAL_STORE_DIR virtual-store-dir
+        if [ "$STICKY_DISK" = "true" ] && [ "$STICKY_WRITER" = "true" ] &&
+          [ "$sticky_snapshot_matches" != "true" ]; then
+          # A mounted stale tree can make a normal frozen install report "Already up to date".
+          # Only the canonical writer may rebuild the shared modules directory in place.
+          install_args+=(--force)
+        fi
         run_pnpm_install() {
           if [ "$STICKY_DISK" = "true" ]; then
             # Pnpm can keep retrying optional platform tarballs after the
diff --git a/test/scripts/ci-workflow-guards.test.ts b/test/scripts/ci-workflow-guards.test.ts
index 7000d7dbd442..648806e22779 100644
--- a/test/scripts/ci-workflow-guards.test.ts
+++ b/test/scripts/ci-workflow-guards.test.ts
@@ -2161,6 +2161,14 @@ describe("ci workflow guards", () => {
     );
     expect(installStep.run).toContain("timeout --signal=TERM --kill-after=15s 4m");
     expect(installStep.run).toContain('pnpm "${install_args[@]}" --config.fetch-retries=0');
+    const forceStickyWriterInstall =
+      'if [ "$STICKY_DISK" = "true" ] && [ "$STICKY_WRITER" = "true" ] &&\n' +
+      '  [ "$sticky_snapshot_matches" != "true" ]; then';
+    expect(installStep.run).toContain(forceStickyWriterInstall);
+    expect(installStep.run).toContain("install_args+=(--force)");
+    expect(installStep.run.indexOf(forceStickyWriterInstall)).toBeLessThan(
+      installStep.run.indexOf("run_pnpm_install()"),
+    );
     expect(installStep.run).toContain("install_attempts=2");
     expect(installStep.run).toContain("install_attempts=3");
     expect(installStep.run).toContain(