diff --git a/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-config.ts b/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-config.ts
index b9ee9f32bb4..0e157ef3705 100644
--- a/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-config.ts
+++ b/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-config.ts
@@ -37,8 +37,11 @@ export function writesAnotherCheckout(args: readonly string[]): boolean {
   return subcommandIndex !== -1 && OTHER_CHECKOUT_SUBCOMMANDS.has(args[subcommandIndex])
 }
 
-/** Deliberate cap: ~200 eligible files decide the checkout without reading the whole tree over drvfs. */
+/** Deliberate cap: ~200 eligible files decide the checkout. */
 export const LINE_ENDING_SAMPLE_LIMIT = 200
+// Why: `ls-files --eol` reads every file it lists over drvfs, so capping matches alone still reads
+// the whole tree when few files qualify (`* text=auto`); the scan stops after this many entries.
+export const LINE_ENDING_SCAN_LIMIT = 10 * LINE_ENDING_SAMPLE_LIMIT
 // Fewer eligible files than this is no evidence either way.
 export const LINE_ENDING_MIN_EVIDENCE = 5
 // Why a TTL: a re-clone at the same path can change the answer.
@@ -129,8 +132,8 @@ export function parseHostAutocrlf(showOriginOutput: string): 'true' | 'other' {
 /**
  * Classifies a bounded `ls-files --eol` sample of LF blobs with no eol attribute.
  *
- * Whole-tree rather than top-level: root files are the ones formatters re-save as LF, the ones
- * attributes pin, and absent in some repos. Majority of CRLF working files means Windows Git
+ * The first index entries, not just top-level files: root files are the ones formatters re-save
+ * as LF, the ones attributes pin, and absent in some repos. Majority of CRLF working files means Windows Git
  * (autocrlf=true) wrote this checkout; one CRLF README in a Linux checkout does not.
  */
 export function classifyLineEndingSample(
diff --git a/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-probe.test.ts b/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-probe.test.ts
index d47f198294a..00c1300237b 100644
--- a/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-probe.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-probe.test.ts
@@ -250,13 +250,13 @@ describe('pendingWslWindowsCheckoutGitConfig', () => {
     await expect(waiting).resolves.toBeUndefined()
   })
 
-  it('samples the whole tree through argv, bounded by a deliberate cap', async () => {
+  it('passes the sample cap and the index-entry scan cap through argv', async () => {
     const { deps, run } = harness()
     await run(WRITE)
     expect(deps.runWsl).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
       expect.objectContaining({
         distro: 'Ubuntu',
-        args: ['/mnt/c/Users/dev/repo', '200'],
+        args: ['/mnt/c/Users/dev/repo', '200', '2000'],
         loginPath: 'preferred'
       })
     )
diff --git a/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-probe.ts b/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-probe.ts
index ca9aa81b19b..954beb1fe63 100644
--- a/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-probe.ts
+++ b/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-git-probe.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import {
   isFresh,
   isWslWindowsCheckoutCandidate,
   LINE_ENDING_SAMPLE_LIMIT,
+  LINE_ENDING_SCAN_LIMIT,
   parseHostAutocrlf,
   recordHostAutocrlf,
   recordLineEndingSample,
@@ -29,11 +30,12 @@ const SAMPLE_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS = 15_000
 const RETRY_BASE_MS = 30_000
 const RETRY_MAX_MS = 10 * 60_000
 const HOST_CONFIG_ARGS = ['config', '--show-origin', '--get-regexp', '^core\\.(autocrlf|eol)$']
-// Exit 3 carries rev-parse's own diagnostic; the pipeline is bounded by head, not by git.
-const SAMPLE_SCRIPT = [
+// Exit 3 carries rev-parse's own diagnostic. The first head bounds what git reads even when grep
+// matches nothing; the second bounds the sample.
+export const SAMPLE_SCRIPT = [
   'git -C "$1" rev-parse --is-inside-work-tree >/dev/null || exit 3',
   "tab=$(printf '\\t')",
-  'git -C "$1" ls-files --eol | grep "^i/lf  *w/[a-z]*  *attr/ *$tab" | head -n "$2"'
+  'git -C "$1" ls-files --eol | head -n "$3" | grep "^i/lf  *w/[a-z]*  *attr/ *$tab" | head -n "$2"'
 ].join('\n')
 
 export type HostGitResult = {
@@ -159,7 +161,11 @@ async function probeSample(
       (deps.runWsl ?? runWslProcess)({
         distro: options.wslDistro,
         script: SAMPLE_SCRIPT,
-        args: [translateArgForWsl(options.cwd), String(LINE_ENDING_SAMPLE_LIMIT)],
+        args: [
+          translateArgForWsl(options.cwd),
+          String(LINE_ENDING_SAMPLE_LIMIT),
+          String(LINE_ENDING_SCAN_LIMIT)
+        ],
         loginPath: 'preferred',
         timeoutMs: SAMPLE_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS,
         maxOutputBytes: 1024 * 1024
diff --git a/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-sample-script.test.ts b/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-sample-script.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5ee646b205f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/git/wsl-windows-checkout-sample-script.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+import { chmodSync, mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
+import { delimiter, join } from 'node:path'
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { runProcess } from '@orca/process-host'
+import { SAMPLE_SCRIPT } from './wsl-windows-checkout-git-probe'
+import { LINE_ENDING_SAMPLE_LIMIT, LINE_ENDING_SCAN_LIMIT } from './wsl-windows-checkout-git-config'
+
+const TAB = '\t'
+const TEXT_AUTO_LINE = `i/lf    w/lf    attr/text=auto        ${TAB}file.txt`
+const ELIGIBLE_LINE = `i/lf    w/crlf  attr/                 ${TAB}file.txt`
+
+// Runs the probe's real shell pipeline against a stand-in git whose `ls-files --eol` never ends,
+// like a huge drvfs tree: only a bounded scan lets the pipeline finish.
+describe.skipIf(process.platform === 'win32')('line-ending sample pipeline', () => {
+  let binDir: string
+
+  beforeEach(() => {
+    binDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-eol-sample-'))
+  })
+
+  afterEach(() => {
+    rmSync(binDir, { recursive: true, force: true })
+  })
+
+  function installEndlessGit(line: string): void {
+    const fakeGit = join(binDir, 'git')
+    writeFileSync(
+      fakeGit,
+      [
+        '#!/bin/sh',
+        'case "$3" in',
+        '  rev-parse) exit 0 ;;',
+        `  ls-files) exec yes '${line}' ;;`,
+        'esac',
+        'exit 1'
+      ].join('\n')
+    )
+    chmodSync(fakeGit, 0o755)
+  }
+
+  function runSample() {
+    return runProcess({
+      program: '/bin/sh',
+      args: [
+        '-c',
+        SAMPLE_SCRIPT,
+        'sh',
+        '/repo',
+        String(LINE_ENDING_SAMPLE_LIMIT),
+        String(LINE_ENDING_SCAN_LIMIT)
+      ],
+      env: { ...process.env, PATH: `${binDir}${delimiter}${process.env.PATH ?? ''}` },
+      timeoutMs: 10_000,
+      maxOutputBytes: 1024 * 1024
+    })
+  }
+
+  it('stops reading the index when no entry is eligible (`* text=auto`)', async () => {
+    installEndlessGit(TEXT_AUTO_LINE)
+    const result = await runSample()
+    expect(result.timedOut).toBe(false)
+    expect(result.code).toBe(0)
+    expect(result.stdout).toBe('')
+  })
+
+  it('still returns a full sample when entries are eligible', async () => {
+    installEndlessGit(ELIGIBLE_LINE)
+    const result = await runSample()
+    expect(result.timedOut).toBe(false)
+    expect(result.code).toBe(0)
+    expect(result.stdout.split('\n').filter(Boolean)).toHaveLength(LINE_ENDING_SAMPLE_LIMIT)
+  })
+})