diff --git a/packages/browser/src/node/index.ts b/packages/browser/src/node/index.ts
index 0c036809b601..105c9ba1b416 100644
--- a/packages/browser/src/node/index.ts
+++ b/packages/browser/src/node/index.ts
@@ -6,8 +6,9 @@ import sirv from 'sirv'
 import type { ViteDevServer } from 'vite'
 import type { ResolvedConfig } from 'vitest'
 import type { BrowserScript, WorkspaceProject } from 'vitest/node'
+import { getFilePoolName, distDir as vitestDist } from 'vitest/node'
 import { type Plugin, coverageConfigDefaults } from 'vitest/config'
-import { slash } from '@vitest/utils'
+import { slash, toArray } from '@vitest/utils'
 import BrowserContext from './plugins/pluginContext'
 import BrowserMocker from './plugins/pluginMocker'
 import DynamicImport from './plugins/pluginDynamicImport'
@@ -155,8 +156,22 @@ export default (project: WorkspaceProject, base = '/'): Plugin[] => {
       name: 'vitest:browser:tests',
       enforce: 'pre',
       async config() {
+        const allTestFiles = await project.globTestFiles()
+        const browserTestFiles = allTestFiles.filter(file => getFilePoolName(project, file) === 'browser')
+        const setupFiles = toArray(project.config.setupFiles)
+        const vitestPaths = [
+          resolve(vitestDist, 'index.js'),
+          resolve(vitestDist, 'browser.js'),
+          resolve(vitestDist, 'runners.js'),
+          resolve(vitestDist, 'utils.js'),
+        ]
         return {
           optimizeDeps: {
+            entries: [
+              ...browserTestFiles,
+              ...setupFiles,
+              ...vitestPaths,
+            ],
             exclude: [
               'vitest',
               'vitest/utils',
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/integrations/browser/server.ts b/packages/vitest/src/integrations/browser/server.ts
index c53889ca75bf..ba9d3596ede4 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/integrations/browser/server.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/integrations/browser/server.ts
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export async function createBrowserServer(project: WorkspaceProject, configFile:
     server: {
       hmr: false,
       watch: null,
+      preTransformRequests: false,
     },
     plugins: [
       ...project.options?.plugins || [],
@@ -58,10 +59,6 @@ export async function createBrowserServer(project: WorkspaceProject, configFile:
             resolve: {
               alias: config.test?.alias,
             },
-            server: {
-              watch: null,
-              preTransformRequests: false,
-            },
           }
         },
       },
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/index.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/index.ts
index 7781136ab7c8..752c0020e51a 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/index.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/index.ts
@@ -8,8 +8,11 @@ export { registerConsoleShortcuts } from './stdin'
 export type { GlobalSetupContext } from './globalSetup'
 export type { WorkspaceSpec, ProcessPool } from './pool'
 export { createMethodsRPC } from './pools/rpc'
+export { getFilePoolName } from './pool'
 export { VitestPackageInstaller } from './packageInstaller'
 
+export { distDir, rootDir } from '../paths'
+
 export type { TestSequencer, TestSequencerConstructor } from './sequencers/types'
 export { BaseSequencer } from './sequencers/BaseSequencer'
 
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/pool.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/pool.ts
index 8be517b80fe0..99d32b2acfa2 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/pool.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/pool.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,28 @@ export interface PoolProcessOptions {
 
 export const builtinPools: BuiltinPool[] = ['forks', 'threads', 'browser', 'vmThreads', 'vmForks', 'typescript']
 
+function getDefaultPoolName(project: WorkspaceProject, file: string): Pool {
+  if (project.config.typecheck.enabled) {
+    for (const glob of project.config.typecheck.include) {
+      if (mm.isMatch(file, glob, { cwd: project.config.root }))
+        return 'typescript'
+    }
+  }
+  if (project.config.browser.enabled)
+    return 'browser'
+  return project.config.pool
+}
+
+export function getFilePoolName(project: WorkspaceProject, file: string) {
+  for (const [glob, pool] of project.config.poolMatchGlobs) {
+    if ((pool as Pool) === 'browser')
+      throw new Error('Since Vitest 0.31.0 "browser" pool is not supported in "poolMatchGlobs". You can create a workspace to run some of your tests in browser in parallel. Read more: https://vitest.dev/guide/workspace')
+    if (mm.isMatch(file, glob, { cwd: project.config.root }))
+      return pool as Pool
+  }
+  return getDefaultPoolName(project, file)
+}
+
 export function createPool(ctx: Vitest): ProcessPool {
   const pools: Record<Pool, ProcessPool | null> = {
     forks: null,
@@ -37,28 +59,6 @@ export function createPool(ctx: Vitest): ProcessPool {
     typescript: null,
   }
 
-  function getDefaultPoolName(project: WorkspaceProject, file: string): Pool {
-    if (project.config.typecheck.enabled) {
-      for (const glob of project.config.typecheck.include) {
-        if (mm.isMatch(file, glob, { cwd: project.config.root }))
-          return 'typescript'
-      }
-    }
-    if (project.config.browser.enabled)
-      return 'browser'
-    return project.config.pool
-  }
-
-  function getPoolName([project, file]: WorkspaceSpec) {
-    for (const [glob, pool] of project.config.poolMatchGlobs) {
-      if ((pool as Pool) === 'browser')
-        throw new Error('Since Vitest 0.31.0 "browser" pool is not supported in "poolMatchGlobs". You can create a workspace to run some of your tests in browser in parallel. Read more: https://vitest.dev/guide/workspace')
-      if (mm.isMatch(file, glob, { cwd: project.config.root }))
-        return pool as Pool
-    }
-    return getDefaultPoolName(project, file)
-  }
-
   // in addition to resolve.conditions Vite also adds production/development,
   // see: https://github.com/vitejs/vite/blob/af2aa09575229462635b7cbb6d248ca853057ba2/packages/vite/src/node/plugins/resolve.ts#L1056-L1080
   const potentialConditions = new Set(['production', 'development', ...ctx.server.config.resolve.conditions])
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ export function createPool(ctx: Vitest): ProcessPool {
     }
 
     for (const spec of files) {
-      const pool = getPoolName(spec)
+      const pool = getFilePoolName(spec[0], spec[1])
       filesByPool[pool] ??= []
       filesByPool[pool].push(spec)
     }