diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-browser/components/MyCounter.vue b/examples/app-vitest-browser/components/MyCounter.vue
index c4fd2c64a..8e996c21c 100644
--- a/examples/app-vitest-browser/components/MyCounter.vue
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-browser/components/MyCounter.vue
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <template>
   <div>
     <p>Count: {{ count }}</p>
+    <p>Runtime Config: {{ config }}</p>
     <button @click="increment">
       Increment
     </button>
@@ -12,6 +13,7 @@
 
 <script setup lang="ts">
 const count = ref(0)
+const config = useRuntimeConfig()
 
 const increment = () => {
   count.value++
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-browser/test/component.test.ts b/examples/app-vitest-browser/test/component.test.ts
index 064187b3f..ca0bcccc9 100644
--- a/examples/app-vitest-browser/test/component.test.ts
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-browser/test/component.test.ts
@@ -21,4 +21,9 @@ describe('Component (MyCounter)', () => {
     await decrementButton.click()
     expect(getByText('Count: -1')).toBeInTheDocument()
   })
+
+  it('can use Nuxt-specific composables', () => {
+    const { getByText } = render(MyCounter)
+    expect(getByText('"buildAssetsDir": "/_nuxt/"')).toBeInTheDocument()
+  })
 })
diff --git a/examples/app-vitest-browser/test/mount-suspended.spec.ts b/examples/app-vitest-browser/test/mount-suspended.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb8c77fea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/app-vitest-browser/test/mount-suspended.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest'
+
+import { mountSuspended } from '@nuxt/test-utils/runtime'
+
+import { MyCounter } from '#components'
+
+describe('Component (MyCounter)', () => {
+  it('renders', async () => {
+    const component = await mountSuspended(MyCounter)
+    expect(component.text()).toContain('Count: 0')
+  })
+
+  it('can be interacted with (increment)', async () => {
+    const component = await mountSuspended(MyCounter)
+    const incrementButton = component.findAll('button').filter(btn => btn.text().includes('Increment'))[0]
+    incrementButton.element.click()
+    await nextTick()
+    expect(component.text()).toContain('Count: 1')
+  })
+
+  it('can be interacted with (decrement)', async () => {
+    const component = await mountSuspended(MyCounter)
+    const decrementButton = component.findAll('button').filter(btn => btn.text().includes('Decrement'))[0]
+    decrementButton.element.click()
+    await nextTick()
+    expect(component.text()).toContain('Count: -1')
+  })
+
+  it('can use Nuxt-specific composables', async () => {
+    const component = await mountSuspended(MyCounter)
+    expect(component.text()).toContain('"buildAssetsDir": "/_nuxt/"')
+  })
+})
diff --git a/src/config.ts b/src/config.ts
index 887f6893e..beb03e64a 100644
--- a/src/config.ts
+++ b/src/config.ts
@@ -102,6 +102,9 @@ export async function getVitestConfigFromNuxt(
       define: {
         'process.env.NODE_ENV': '"test"',
       },
+      optimizeDeps: {
+        noDiscovery: true,
+      },
       test: {
         dir: process.cwd(),
         environmentOptions: {
@@ -265,16 +268,46 @@ async function resolveConfig<T extends ViteUserConfig & { test?: VitestConfig }
     config.test.setupFiles = [config.test.setupFiles].filter(Boolean) as string[]
   }
 
-  return defu(
+  const resolvedConfig = defu(
     config satisfies T,
     await getVitestConfigFromNuxt(undefined, {
       dotenv: config.test?.environmentOptions?.nuxt?.dotenv,
       overrides: structuredClone(overrides),
     }) satisfies ViteUserConfig & { test: NonNullable<T['test']> },
   ) as T & { test: NonNullable<T['test']> }
+
+  const PLUGIN_NAME = 'nuxt:vitest:nuxt-environment-options'
+  const STUB_ID = 'nuxt-vitest-environment-options'
+  resolvedConfig.plugins!.push({
+    name: PLUGIN_NAME,
+    enforce: 'pre',
+    resolveId(id) {
+      if (id.endsWith(STUB_ID)) {
+        return STUB_ID
+      }
+    },
+    load(id) {
+      if (id.endsWith(STUB_ID)) {
+        return `export default ${JSON.stringify(resolvedConfig.test.environmentOptions || {})}`
+      }
+    },
+  })
+
+  if (resolvedConfig.test.browser?.enabled) {
+    if (resolvedConfig.test.environment === 'nuxt') {
+      resolvedConfig.test.setupFiles = Array.isArray(resolvedConfig.test.setupFiles)
+        ? resolvedConfig.test.setupFiles
+        : [resolvedConfig.test.setupFiles].filter(Boolean) as string[]
+      const resolver = createResolver(import.meta.url)
+      const browserEntry = await findPath(resolver.resolve('./runtime/browser-entry')) || resolver.resolve('./runtime/browser-entry')
+      resolvedConfig.test.setupFiles.unshift(browserEntry)
+    }
+  }
+
+  return resolvedConfig
 }
 
-interface NuxtEnvironmentOptions {
+export interface NuxtEnvironmentOptions {
   rootDir?: string
   /**
    * The starting URL for your Nuxt window environment
diff --git a/src/environments/vitest/index.ts b/src/environments/vitest/index.ts
index 977dcda79..2250b9d2f 100644
--- a/src/environments/vitest/index.ts
+++ b/src/environments/vitest/index.ts
@@ -1,13 +1,10 @@
 import type { Environment } from 'vitest/environments'
-import { createFetch } from 'ofetch'
 import { indexedDB } from 'fake-indexeddb'
 import { joinURL } from 'ufo'
-import { createApp, defineEventHandler, toNodeListener, splitCookiesString } from 'h3'
 import defu from 'defu'
-import { createRouter as createRadixRouter, exportMatcher, toRouteMatcher } from 'radix3'
 import { populateGlobal } from 'vitest/environments'
-import { fetchNodeRequestHandler } from 'node-mock-http'
 
+import { setupWindow } from '../../runtime/shared/environment'
 import type { NuxtBuiltinEnvironment } from './types'
 import happyDom from './env/happy-dom'
 import jsdom from './env/jsdom'
@@ -25,14 +22,6 @@ export default <Environment>{
       environmentOptions?.nuxtRuntimeConfig.app?.baseURL || '/',
     )
 
-    const consoleInfo = console.info
-    console.info = (...args) => {
-      if (args[0] === '<Suspense> is an experimental feature and its API will likely change.') {
-        return
-      }
-      return consoleInfo(...args)
-    }
-
     const environmentName = environmentOptions.nuxt.domEnvironment as NuxtBuiltinEnvironment
     const environment = environmentMap[environmentName] || environmentMap['happy-dom']
     const { window: win, teardown } = await environment(global, defu(environmentOptions, {
@@ -40,24 +29,6 @@ export default <Environment>{
       jsdom: { url },
     }))
 
-    win.__NUXT_VITEST_ENVIRONMENT__ = true
-
-    win.__NUXT__ = {
-      serverRendered: false,
-      config: {
-        public: {},
-        app: { baseURL: '/' },
-        ...environmentOptions?.nuxtRuntimeConfig,
-      },
-      data: {},
-      state: {},
-    }
-
-    const app = win.document.createElement('div')
-    // this is a workaround for a happy-dom bug with ids beginning with _
-    app.id = environmentOptions.nuxt.rootId
-    win.document.body.appendChild(app)
-
     if (environmentOptions?.nuxt?.mock?.intersectionObserver) {
       win.IntersectionObserver
         = win.IntersectionObserver
@@ -73,123 +44,21 @@ export default <Environment>{
       win.indexedDB = indexedDB
     }
 
-    const h3App = createApp()
-
-    if (!win.fetch) {
-      await import('node-fetch-native/polyfill')
-      // @ts-expect-error URLSearchParams is not a proeprty of window
-      win.URLSearchParams = globalThis.URLSearchParams
-    }
-
-    const nodeHandler = toNodeListener(h3App)
-
-    const registry = new Set<string>()
-
-    win.fetch = async (url, init) => {
-      if (typeof url === 'string') {
-        const base = url.split('?')[0]
-        if (registry.has(base) || registry.has(url)) {
-          url = '/_' + url
-        }
-        if (url.startsWith('/')) {
-          const response = await fetchNodeRequestHandler(nodeHandler, url, init)
-          return normalizeFetchResponse(response)
-        }
-      }
-      return fetch(url, init)
-    }
-
-    // @ts-expect-error fetch types differ slightly
-    win.$fetch = createFetch({ fetch: win.fetch, Headers: win.Headers })
-
-    win.__registry = registry
-    win.__app = h3App
-
+    // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
+    const teardownWindow = await setupWindow(win, environmentOptions as any)
     const { keys, originals } = populateGlobal(global, win, {
       bindFunctions: true,
     })
 
-    // App manifest support
-    const timestamp = Date.now()
-    const routeRulesMatcher = toRouteMatcher(
-      createRadixRouter({ routes: environmentOptions.nuxtRouteRules || {} }),
-    )
-    const matcher = exportMatcher(routeRulesMatcher)
-    const manifestOutputPath = joinURL(
-      environmentOptions?.nuxtRuntimeConfig.app?.baseURL || '/',
-      environmentOptions?.nuxtRuntimeConfig.app?.buildAssetsDir || '_nuxt',
-      'builds',
-    )
-    const manifestBaseRoutePath = joinURL('/_', manifestOutputPath)
-
-    // @ts-expect-error untyped __NUXT__ variable
-    const buildId = win.__NUXT__.config.app.buildId || 'test'
-
-    h3App.use(
-      `${manifestBaseRoutePath}/latest.json`,
-      defineEventHandler(() => ({
-        id: buildId,
-        timestamp,
-      })),
-    )
-    h3App.use(
-      `${manifestBaseRoutePath}/meta/${buildId}.json`,
-      defineEventHandler(() => ({
-        id: buildId,
-        timestamp,
-        matcher,
-        prerendered: [],
-      })),
-    )
-
-    registry.add(`${manifestOutputPath}/latest.json`)
-    registry.add(`${manifestOutputPath}/meta/${buildId}.json`)
-
     return {
       // called after all tests with this env have been run
       teardown() {
         // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-dynamic-delete
         keys.forEach(key => delete global[key])
-        console.info = consoleInfo
+        teardownWindow()
         originals.forEach((v, k) => (global[k] = v))
         teardown()
       },
     }
   },
 }
-
-/** utils from nitro */
-
-function normalizeFetchResponse(response: Response) {
-  if (!response.headers.has('set-cookie')) {
-    return response
-  }
-  return new Response(response.body, {
-    status: response.status,
-    statusText: response.statusText,
-    headers: normalizeCookieHeaders(response.headers),
-  })
-}
-
-function normalizeCookieHeader(header: number | string | string[] = '') {
-  return splitCookiesString(joinHeaders(header))
-}
-
-function normalizeCookieHeaders(headers: Headers) {
-  const outgoingHeaders = new Headers()
-  for (const [name, header] of headers) {
-    if (name === 'set-cookie') {
-      for (const cookie of normalizeCookieHeader(header)) {
-        outgoingHeaders.append('set-cookie', cookie)
-      }
-    }
-    else {
-      outgoingHeaders.set(name, joinHeaders(header))
-    }
-  }
-  return outgoingHeaders
-}
-
-function joinHeaders(value: number | string | string[]) {
-  return Array.isArray(value) ? value.join(', ') : String(value)
-}
diff --git a/src/runtime/browser-entry.ts b/src/runtime/browser-entry.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cb2d3b77a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/runtime/browser-entry.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+// @ts-expect-error virtual file
+import environmentOptions from 'nuxt-vitest-environment-options'
+
+import type { NuxtWindow } from '../vitest-environment'
+import { setupNuxt } from './shared/nuxt'
+import { setupWindow } from './shared/environment'
+
+const el = document.querySelector(environmentOptions.nuxt.rootId || 'nuxt-test')
+if (!el) {
+  await setupWindow(window as unknown as NuxtWindow, environmentOptions)
+  await setupNuxt()
+}
diff --git a/src/runtime/entry.ts b/src/runtime/entry.ts
index ffbd7b32b..fee0e7a5b 100644
--- a/src/runtime/entry.ts
+++ b/src/runtime/entry.ts
@@ -1,19 +1,12 @@
 import { vi } from 'vitest'
+import { setupNuxt } from './shared/nuxt'
 
 if (
   typeof window !== 'undefined'
   // @ts-expect-error undefined property
   && window.__NUXT_VITEST_ENVIRONMENT__
 ) {
-  const { useRouter } = await import('#app/composables/router')
-  // @ts-expect-error alias to allow us to transform the entrypoint
-  await import('#app/nuxt-vitest-app-entry').then(r => r.default())
-  // We must manually call `page:finish` to snc route after navigation
-  // as there is no `<NuxtPage>` instantiated by default.
-  const nuxtApp = useNuxtApp()
-  await nuxtApp.callHook('page:finish')
-  useRouter().afterEach(() => nuxtApp.callHook('page:finish'))
-
+  await setupNuxt()
   vi.resetModules()
 }
 
diff --git a/src/runtime/shared/environment.ts b/src/runtime/shared/environment.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c9e001208
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/runtime/shared/environment.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,155 @@
+import { createFetch } from 'ofetch'
+import { joinURL } from 'ufo'
+import { createApp, defineEventHandler, toNodeListener } from 'h3'
+import { createRouter as createRadixRouter, exportMatcher, toRouteMatcher } from 'radix3'
+import { fetchNodeRequestHandler } from 'node-mock-http'
+import type { NuxtWindow } from '../../vitest-environment'
+import type { NuxtEnvironmentOptions } from '../../config'
+
+// eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-explicit-any
+export async function setupWindow(win: NuxtWindow, environmentOptions: { nuxt: NuxtEnvironmentOptions, nuxtRuntimeConfig?: Record<string, any>, nuxtRouteRules?: Record<string, any> }) {
+  win.__NUXT_VITEST_ENVIRONMENT__ = true
+  win.__NUXT__ = {
+    serverRendered: false,
+    config: {
+      public: {},
+      app: { baseURL: '/' },
+      ...environmentOptions?.nuxtRuntimeConfig,
+    },
+    data: {},
+    state: {},
+  }
+
+  const rootId = environmentOptions.nuxt.rootId || 'nuxt-test'
+  let el
+  try {
+    el = win.document.querySelector(rootId)
+  }
+  catch {
+    // suppress error - jsdom bug with `__nuxt` query selector
+  }
+  if (el) {
+    return () => {}
+  }
+
+  const consoleInfo = console.info
+  console.info = (...args) => {
+    if (args[0] === '<Suspense> is an experimental feature and its API will likely change.') {
+      return
+    }
+    return consoleInfo(...args)
+  }
+
+  const app = win.document.createElement('div')
+  // this is a workaround for a happy-dom bug with ids beginning with _
+  app.id = rootId
+  win.document.body.appendChild(app)
+
+  const h3App = createApp()
+
+  if (!win.fetch) {
+    await import('node-fetch-native/polyfill')
+    // @ts-expect-error fetch polyfill
+    win.URLSearchParams = globalThis.URLSearchParams
+  }
+
+  const nodeHandler = toNodeListener(h3App)
+
+  const registry = new Set<string>()
+
+  win.fetch = async (url, init) => {
+    if (typeof url === 'string') {
+      const base = url.split('?')[0]
+      if (registry.has(base) || registry.has(url)) {
+        url = '/_' + url
+      }
+      if (url.startsWith('/')) {
+        const response = await fetchNodeRequestHandler(nodeHandler, url, init)
+        return normalizeFetchResponse(response)
+      }
+    }
+    return fetch(url, init)
+  }
+
+  // @ts-expect-error fetch types differ slightly
+  win.$fetch = createFetch({ fetch: win.fetch, Headers: win.Headers })
+
+  win.__registry = registry
+  win.__app = h3App
+
+  // App manifest support
+  const timestamp = Date.now()
+  const routeRulesMatcher = toRouteMatcher(
+    createRadixRouter({ routes: environmentOptions.nuxtRouteRules || {} }),
+  )
+  const matcher = exportMatcher(routeRulesMatcher)
+  const manifestOutputPath = joinURL(
+    environmentOptions?.nuxtRuntimeConfig?.app?.baseURL || '/',
+    environmentOptions?.nuxtRuntimeConfig?.app?.buildAssetsDir || '_nuxt',
+    'builds',
+  )
+  const manifestBaseRoutePath = joinURL('/_', manifestOutputPath)
+
+  // @ts-expect-error untyped property
+  const buildId = win.__NUXT__.config?.app.buildId || 'test'
+
+  h3App.use(
+    `${manifestBaseRoutePath}/latest.json`,
+    defineEventHandler(() => ({
+      id: buildId,
+      timestamp,
+    })),
+  )
+  h3App.use(
+    `${manifestBaseRoutePath}/meta/${buildId}.json`,
+    defineEventHandler(() => ({
+      id: buildId,
+      timestamp,
+      matcher,
+      prerendered: [],
+    })),
+  )
+
+  registry.add(`${manifestOutputPath}/latest.json`)
+  registry.add(`${manifestOutputPath}/meta/${buildId}.json`)
+
+  return () => {
+    console.info = consoleInfo
+  }
+}
+
+/** utils from nitro */
+
+function normalizeFetchResponse(response: Response) {
+  if (!response.headers.has('set-cookie')) {
+    return response
+  }
+  return new Response(response.body, {
+    status: response.status,
+    statusText: response.statusText,
+    headers: normalizeCookieHeaders(response.headers),
+  })
+}
+
+function normalizeCookieHeader(header: number | string | string[] = '') {
+  return splitCookiesString(joinHeaders(header))
+}
+
+function normalizeCookieHeaders(headers: Headers) {
+  const outgoingHeaders = new Headers()
+  for (const [name, header] of headers) {
+    if (name === 'set-cookie') {
+      for (const cookie of normalizeCookieHeader(header)) {
+        outgoingHeaders.append('set-cookie', cookie)
+      }
+    }
+    else {
+      outgoingHeaders.set(name, joinHeaders(header))
+    }
+  }
+  return outgoingHeaders
+}
+
+function joinHeaders(value: number | string | string[]) {
+  return Array.isArray(value) ? value.join(', ') : String(value)
+}
diff --git a/src/runtime/shared/nuxt.ts b/src/runtime/shared/nuxt.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a5a4df2ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/runtime/shared/nuxt.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+export async function setupNuxt() {
+  const { useRouter } = await import('#app/composables/router')
+  // @ts-expect-error alias to allow us to transform the entrypoint
+  await import('#app/nuxt-vitest-app-entry').then(r => r.default())
+  // We must manually call `page:finish` to snc route after navigation
+  // as there is no `<NuxtPage>` instantiated by default.
+  const nuxtApp = useNuxtApp()
+  await nuxtApp.callHook('page:finish')
+  useRouter().afterEach(() => nuxtApp.callHook('page:finish'))
+}