diff --git a/.github/workflows/cd.yml b/.github/workflows/cd.yml
index f528ff2d4..2e4a10ad8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cd.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cd.yml
@@ -290,17 +290,24 @@ jobs:
           echo "OCIO_RS_ENABLE_REAL=1" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
           echo "OCIO_RS_LINK=static" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
           # cargo fetch only downloads the .crate archives; unpack ocio-sys
-          # so the vendored yaml-cpp can be patched before the build.
+          # so the vendored yaml-cpp can be patched before the build. The
+          # registry src dir may not exist yet on a fresh runner — create
+          # it from the cache dir's hash. The trailing ls asserts the
+          # patched file actually exists.
           cargo fetch --locked
-          for dir in "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/src/*/; do
-            if ls "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/cache/*/ocio-sys-0.2.1.crate >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-              tar xzf "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/cache/*/ocio-sys-0.2.1.crate -C "$dir" 2>/dev/null || true
+          for cache in "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/cache/*/; do
+            src="$HOME/.cargo/registry/src/$(basename "$cache")"
+            mkdir -p "$src"
+            if [ -f "$cache/ocio-sys-0.2.1.crate" ]; then
+              tar xzf "$cache/ocio-sys-0.2.1.crate" -C "$src"
             fi
           done
           for f in "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/src/*/ocio-sys-0.2.1/vendor/OpenColorIO/ext/ocio-rs-deps/yaml-cpp/src/emitterutils.cpp; do
+            [ -e "$f" ] || continue
             grep -q '#include <cstdint>' "$f" || \
               sed -i '0,/#include/s||#include <cstdint>\n&|' "$f"
           done
+          ls "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/src/*/ocio-sys-0.2.1/vendor/OpenColorIO/ext/ocio-rs-deps/yaml-cpp/src/emitterutils.cpp
 
       - name: Cache cargo artifacts
         uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v2
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 266e0ce4c..2a76502e3 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -126,17 +126,24 @@ jobs:
           echo "OCIO_RS_ENABLE_REAL=1" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
           echo "OCIO_RS_LINK=static" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
           # cargo fetch only downloads the .crate archives; unpack ocio-sys
-          # so the vendored yaml-cpp can be patched before the build.
+          # so the vendored yaml-cpp can be patched before the build. The
+          # registry src dir may not exist yet on a fresh runner — create
+          # it from the cache dir's hash. The trailing ls asserts the
+          # patched file actually exists.
           cargo fetch --locked
-          for dir in "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/src/*/; do
-            if ls "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/cache/*/ocio-sys-0.2.1.crate >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-              tar xzf "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/cache/*/ocio-sys-0.2.1.crate -C "$dir" 2>/dev/null || true
+          for cache in "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/cache/*/; do
+            src="$HOME/.cargo/registry/src/$(basename "$cache")"
+            mkdir -p "$src"
+            if [ -f "$cache/ocio-sys-0.2.1.crate" ]; then
+              tar xzf "$cache/ocio-sys-0.2.1.crate" -C "$src"
             fi
           done
           for f in "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/src/*/ocio-sys-0.2.1/vendor/OpenColorIO/ext/ocio-rs-deps/yaml-cpp/src/emitterutils.cpp; do
+            [ -e "$f" ] || continue
             grep -q '#include <cstdint>' "$f" || \
               sed -i '0,/#include/s||#include <cstdint>\n&|' "$f"
           done
+          ls "$HOME"/.cargo/registry/src/*/ocio-sys-0.2.1/vendor/OpenColorIO/ext/ocio-rs-deps/yaml-cpp/src/emitterutils.cpp
 
       # ------------------------------------------------------------------
       # Caches