diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/provider-host-state.test.ts b/src/lib/onboard/provider-host-state.test.ts
index e5b067d920c..0c98a5c7891 100644
--- a/src/lib/onboard/provider-host-state.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/provider-host-state.test.ts
@@ -65,18 +65,19 @@ function detectWithDeps(
 }
 
 describe("detectInferenceProviderHostState", () => {
-  it("suppresses local endpoint probes when route preflight disallows them (#6315)", () => {
+  it("suppresses local and Windows-host Ollama probes when provider discovery disables them (#6315, #9604)", () => {
     const runCapture = vi.fn<DetectInferenceProviderHostStateDeps["runCapture"]>(() => "{}");
     const findReachableOllamaHost = vi.fn(() => "127.0.0.1");
+    const detectWindowsHostOllama = vi.fn(() => ({
+      installed: true,
+      installedPath: "C:\\Ollama\\ollama.exe",
+      loopbackOnly: false,
+    }));
     const deps = buildDeps({
       runCapture,
       findReachableOllamaHost,
       isWsl: vi.fn(() => true),
-      detectWindowsHostOllama: vi.fn(() => ({
-        installed: true,
-        installedPath: "C:\\Ollama\\ollama.exe",
-        loopbackOnly: false,
-      })),
+      detectWindowsHostOllama,
     });
 
     const state = detectInferenceProviderHostState({
@@ -91,6 +92,7 @@ describe("detectInferenceProviderHostState", () => {
     });
 
     expect(findReachableOllamaHost).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+    expect(detectWindowsHostOllama).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
     expect(state.ollamaRunning).toBe(false);
     expect(state.vllmRunning).toBe(false);
     expect(state.windowsOllamaReachable).toBe(false);
diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/provider-host-state.ts b/src/lib/onboard/provider-host-state.ts
index f0e4b71f0a7..5866a9e6a7d 100644
--- a/src/lib/onboard/provider-host-state.ts
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/provider-host-state.ts
@@ -253,7 +253,10 @@ export function detectInferenceProviderHostState(
   const windowsHostOllamaDockerRequirement = deps.getWindowsHostOllamaDockerRequirement(
     isWsl ? deps.getContainerRuntime() : null,
   );
-  const winOllamaState = deps.detectWindowsHostOllama();
+  const winOllamaState =
+    input.probeOllama === false
+      ? { installed: false, installedPath: "", loopbackOnly: false }
+      : deps.detectWindowsHostOllama();
   const hasWindowsOllama = winOllamaState.installed;
   const windowsOllamaReachable =
     input.probeOllama === false
diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/windows-host-ollama.test.ts b/src/lib/onboard/windows-host-ollama.test.ts
index 782e5109a26..80c892441e3 100644
--- a/src/lib/onboard/windows-host-ollama.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/windows-host-ollama.test.ts
@@ -3,10 +3,13 @@
 
 import { afterEach, describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
 
-const runCapture = vi.fn<(cmd: readonly string[]) => string>(() => "");
+const runCapture = vi.fn<typeof import("../runner").runCapture>(() => "");
 
 vi.mock("../runner", () => ({
-  runCapture: (cmd: readonly string[]) => runCapture(cmd),
+  runCapture: (
+    cmd: readonly string[],
+    options?: Parameters<typeof import("../runner").runCapture>[1],
+  ) => runCapture(cmd, options),
 }));
 
 vi.mock("../platform", () => ({
@@ -52,7 +55,7 @@ describe("detectWindowsHostOllama", () => {
     expect(runCapture).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
-  it("returns uninstalled when all Windows Ollama probes miss", () => {
+  it("returns absent state when Windows-host probes do not respond (#9604)", () => {
     runCapture.mockImplementation(() => "");
 
     expect(detectWindowsHostOllama({ isWsl: () => true, runCapture })).toEqual({
@@ -60,5 +63,29 @@ describe("detectWindowsHostOllama", () => {
       installedPath: "",
       loopbackOnly: false,
     });
+    expect(runCapture).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
+    expect(runCapture.mock.calls.map(([, options]) => options)).toEqual([
+      { ignoreError: true, timeout: 5_000 },
+      { ignoreError: true, timeout: 5_000 },
+      { ignoreError: true, timeout: 5_000 },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("continues when the Windows-host port probe does not respond (#9604)", () => {
+    const installedPath = "C:\\Users\\tester\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Ollama\\ollama.exe";
+    const outputs = [installedPath, "42", ""];
+    runCapture.mockImplementation(() => outputs.shift() ?? "");
+
+    expect(detectWindowsHostOllama()).toEqual({
+      installed: true,
+      installedPath,
+      loopbackOnly: false,
+    });
+    expect(runCapture).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(3);
+    expect(runCapture.mock.calls.map(([, options]) => options)).toEqual([
+      { ignoreError: true, timeout: 5_000 },
+      { ignoreError: true, timeout: 5_000 },
+      { ignoreError: true, timeout: 5_000 },
+    ]);
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/windows-host-ollama.ts b/src/lib/onboard/windows-host-ollama.ts
index 247a92bdd9d..6a03d77d1dd 100644
--- a/src/lib/onboard/windows-host-ollama.ts
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/windows-host-ollama.ts
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ export interface WindowsHostOllamaState {
 }
 
 const POWERSHELL = "powershell.exe";
+const WINDOWS_HOST_OLLAMA_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS = 5_000;
 
 const GET_COMMAND_OLLAMA =
   "Get-Command ollama.exe -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Source";
@@ -55,7 +56,12 @@ function resolveDeps(
 }
 
 function powershell(script: string, deps: DetectWindowsHostOllamaDeps): string {
-  return deps.runCapture([POWERSHELL, "-Command", script], { ignoreError: true }).trim();
+  return deps
+    .runCapture([POWERSHELL, "-Command", script], {
+      ignoreError: true,
+      timeout: WINDOWS_HOST_OLLAMA_PROBE_TIMEOUT_MS,
+    })
+    .trim();
 }
 
 function probeInstalledPath(deps: DetectWindowsHostOllamaDeps): string {
@@ -78,9 +84,7 @@ function probeInstalledPath(deps: DetectWindowsHostOllamaDeps): string {
 function probeLoopbackOnly(deps: DetectWindowsHostOllamaDeps): boolean {
   const pid = powershell(GET_PROCESS_OLLAMA_ID, deps);
   if (!pid) return false;
-  const listenAddrs = deps.runCapture([POWERSHELL, "-Command", GET_NETTCP_OLLAMA_LISTEN], {
-    ignoreError: true,
-  });
+  const listenAddrs = powershell(GET_NETTCP_OLLAMA_LISTEN, deps);
   return /127\.0\.0\.1/.test(listenAddrs) && !/0\.0\.0\.0|^::\s*$/m.test(listenAddrs);
 }