diff --git a/.ci/test_r_package_solaris.sh b/.ci/test_r_package_solaris.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..bf051476a011
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.ci/test_r_package_solaris.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+sh build-cran-package.sh || exit -1
+
+apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y \
+  libcurl4-openssl-dev \
+  libxml2-dev \
+  libssl-dev
+
+log_file="rhub_logs.txt"
+Rscript -e "install.packages('rhub', dependencies = c('Depends', 'Imports', 'LinkingTo'), repos = 'https://cran.r-project.org', Ncpus = parallel::detectCores())" || exit -1
+
+Rscript ./.ci/run_rhub_solaris_checks.R lightgbm_*.tar.gz $log_file || exit -1
diff --git a/.ci/test_r_package_valgrind.sh b/.ci/test_r_package_valgrind.sh
index f17b3bc8b9be..2a6ce8dc7f9a 100755
--- a/.ci/test_r_package_valgrind.sh
+++ b/.ci/test_r_package_valgrind.sh
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 
+RDscriptvalgrind -e "install.packages(c('R6', 'data.table', 'jsonlite', 'testthat'), repos = 'https://cran.r-project.org', Ncpus = parallel::detectCores())" || exit -1
+sh build-cran-package.sh || exit -1
+RDvalgrind CMD INSTALL --preclean --install-tests lightgbm_*.tar.gz || exit -1
+
 cd R-package/tests
 
 ALL_LOGS_FILE="out.log"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/r_solaris.yml b/.github/workflows/r_solaris.yml
index a297338ba2f6..ee1a581c23b5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/r_solaris.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/r_solaris.yml
@@ -37,15 +37,7 @@ jobs:
             "Workflow **${{ github.workflow }}** has been triggered! 🚀\r\n${GITHUB_SERVER_URL}/microsoft/LightGBM/actions/runs/${GITHUB_RUN_ID}"
       - name: Run tests on Solaris
         shell: bash
-        run: |
-          sh build-cran-package.sh || exit -1
-          apt-get install --no-install-recommends -y \
-              libcurl4-openssl-dev \
-              libxml2-dev \
-              libssl-dev
-          log_file="$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/rhub_logs.txt"
-          Rscript -e "install.packages('rhub', dependencies = c('Depends', 'Imports', 'LinkingTo'), repos = 'https://cran.r-project.org', Ncpus = parallel::detectCores())"
-          Rscript $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.ci/run_rhub_solaris_checks.R $(pwd)/lightgbm_*.tar.gz $log_file || exit -1
+        run: ./.ci/test_r_package_solaris.sh
       - name: Send final status
         if: ${{ always() }}
         run: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/r_valgrind.yml b/.github/workflows/r_valgrind.yml
index 866faedf29cd..ff37c212a7eb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/r_valgrind.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/r_valgrind.yml
@@ -35,12 +35,6 @@ jobs:
           $GITHUB_WORKSPACE/.ci/append_comment.sh \
             "${{ github.event.client_payload.comment_number }}" \
             "Workflow **${{ github.workflow }}** has been triggered! 🚀\r\n${GITHUB_SERVER_URL}/microsoft/LightGBM/actions/runs/${GITHUB_RUN_ID}"
-      - name: Install packages
-        shell: bash
-        run: |
-          RDscriptvalgrind -e "install.packages(c('R6', 'data.table', 'jsonlite', 'testthat'), repos = 'https://cran.r-project.org', Ncpus = parallel::detectCores())"
-          sh build-cran-package.sh
-          RDvalgrind CMD INSTALL --preclean --install-tests lightgbm_*.tar.gz || exit -1
       - name: Run tests with valgrind
         shell: bash
         run: ./.ci/test_r_package_valgrind.sh