diff --git a/lisp/emacs-lisp/package-vc.el b/lisp/emacs-lisp/package-vc.el
index ef056c7909b..c29e8b5d738 100644
--- a/lisp/emacs-lisp/package-vc.el
+++ b/lisp/emacs-lisp/package-vc.el
@@ -774,6 +774,9 @@ package-vc-upgrade-all
         (package-vc-upgrade pkg-desc))))
   (message "Done upgrading packages."))
 
+(declare-function vc-dir-prepare-status-buffer "vc-dir"
+                  (bname dir backend &optional create-new))
+
 ;;;###autoload
 (defun package-vc-upgrade (pkg-desc)
   "Upgrade the package described by PKG-DESC from package's VC repository.
@@ -810,7 +813,10 @@ package-vc-upgrade
                   (remove-hook 'vc-post-command-functions post-upgrade))))))
     (add-hook 'vc-post-command-functions post-upgrade)
     (with-demoted-errors "Failed to fetch: %S"
-      (let ((default-directory pkg-dir))
+      (require 'vc-dir)
+      (with-current-buffer (vc-dir-prepare-status-buffer
+                            (format " *vc-dir: %s*" pkg-dir)
+                            pkg-dir (vc-responsible-backend pkg-dir))
         (vc-pull)))))
 
 (defun package-vc--archives-initialize ()