diff --git a/update-scripts/version/msys2-runtime b/update-scripts/version/msys2-runtime
index 448a2e0..6355304 100755
--- a/update-scripts/version/msys2-runtime
+++ b/update-scripts/version/msys2-runtime
@@ -37,8 +37,9 @@ esac
 # `updpkgsums` requires the bare clone `msys2-runtime` to exist
 git init --bare msys2-runtime &&
 git --git-dir=msys2-runtime config remote.origin.url https://github.com/cygwin/cygwin &&
+git --git-dir=msys2-runtime fetch --tags https://github.com/cygwin/cygwin &&
 
-git init --bare src/msys2-runtime &&
+git clone --bare msys2-runtime src/msys2-runtime &&
 git --git-dir=src/msys2-runtime config remote.origin.url https://github.com/git-for-windows/msys2-runtime &&
 # pretend to be a partial clone
 git --git-dir=src/msys2-runtime config remote.origin.promisor true &&
@@ -53,7 +54,6 @@ previous_commit="$(cat msys2-runtime.commit)" && {
 
 # update pkgver if needed
 update_pkgver= &&
-git --git-dir=src/msys2-runtime fetch --tags https://github.com/cygwin/cygwin &&
 pkgver=$(git --git-dir=src/msys2-runtime describe --match='cygwin-[0-9]*' "$revision") &&
 pkgver=${pkgver#cygwin-} &&
 pkgver=${pkgver%%-*} &&