diff --git a/plugins.vcxproj.filters b/plugins.vcxproj.filters
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5ce08010501
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugins.vcxproj.filters
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
+<Project ToolsVersion="16.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <CustomBuild Include="C:\Code\grpc\CMakeFiles\abdb608b4c8dfad7a28f7c47cf039774\plugins.rule">
+      <Filter>CMake Rules</Filter>
+    </CustomBuild>
+    <CustomBuild Include="C:\Code\grpc\CMakeLists.txt" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <None Include="C:\Code\grpc\CMakeFiles\plugins" />
+  </ItemGroup>
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <Filter Include="CMake Rules">
+      <UniqueIdentifier>{870DBD13-69C5-3F27-A253-623E8947E2E7}</UniqueIdentifier>
+    </Filter>
+  </ItemGroup>
+</Project>
diff --git a/src/csharp/Grpc.Core.Tests/Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs b/src/csharp/Grpc.Core.Tests/Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs
index e19010f0509..af264c9be5d 100644
--- a/src/csharp/Grpc.Core.Tests/Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs
+++ b/src/csharp/Grpc.Core.Tests/Properties/AssemblyInfo.cs
@@ -27,9 +27,3 @@ using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
 [assembly: AssemblyCopyright("Google Inc.  All rights reserved.")]
 [assembly: AssemblyTrademark("")]
 [assembly: AssemblyCulture("")]
-
-[assembly: InternalsVisibleTo("Grpc.Microbenchmarks,PublicKey=" +
-    "00240000048000009400000006020000002400005253413100040000010001002f5797a92c6fcde81bd4098f43" +
-    "0442bb8e12768722de0b0cb1b15e955b32a11352740ee59f2c94c48edc8e177d1052536b8ac651bce11ce5da3a" +
-    "27fc95aff3dc604a6971417453f9483c7b5e836756d5b271bf8f2403fe186e31956148c03d804487cf642f8cc0" +
-    "71394ee9672dfe5b55ea0f95dfd5a7f77d22c962ccf51320d3")]
diff --git a/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Grpc.Microbenchmarks.csproj b/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Grpc.Microbenchmarks.csproj
index 89597e139ec..f775e4c85fb 100644
--- a/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Grpc.Microbenchmarks.csproj
+++ b/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Grpc.Microbenchmarks.csproj
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 
   <ItemGroup>
     <ProjectReference Include="../Grpc.Core/Grpc.Core.csproj" />
-    <ProjectReference Include="../Grpc.Core.Tests/Grpc.Core.Tests.csproj" />
   </ItemGroup>
 
   <ItemGroup>
diff --git a/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Utf8Encode.cs b/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Utf8Encode.cs
index cbb4091122b..4061a1a0f02 100644
--- a/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Utf8Encode.cs
+++ b/src/csharp/Grpc.Microbenchmarks/Utf8Encode.cs
@@ -1,10 +1,8 @@
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
-using System.Text;
 using BenchmarkDotNet.Attributes;
 using Grpc.Core;
 using Grpc.Core.Internal;
-using Grpc.Core.Internal.Tests;
 
 namespace Grpc.Microbenchmarks
 {
@@ -12,9 +10,7 @@ namespace Grpc.Microbenchmarks
     [MemoryDiagnoser] // allocations
     public class Utf8Encode : ISendStatusFromServerCompletionCallback
     {
-        static readonly NativeMethods Native = NativeMethods.Get();
-
-        [Params(0, 1, 4, 128, 1024)]
+        [Params(0)] //, 1, 4, 128, 1024)]
         public int PayloadSize { get; set; }
 
         static readonly Dictionary<int, string> Payloads = new Dictionary<int, string> {
@@ -36,22 +32,50 @@ namespace Grpc.Microbenchmarks
             return new string(chars);
         }
 
+        private GrpcEnvironment environment;
+
         [GlobalSetup]
         public void Setup()
         {
-            Native.grpcsharp_test_override_method("grpcsharp_call_start_batch", "nop");
+            var native = NativeMethods.Get();
+
+            // ??? throws ???
+            native.grpcsharp_test_override_method(nameof(NativeMethods.grpcsharp_call_send_status_from_server), "nop");
+
+            environment = GrpcEnvironment.AddRef();
             metadata = MetadataArraySafeHandle.Create(Metadata.Empty);
-            call = new FakeNativeCall();
+            var completionRegistry = new CompletionRegistry(environment, () => environment.BatchContextPool.Lease(), () => throw new NotImplementedException());
+            var cq = CompletionQueueSafeHandle.CreateAsync(completionRegistry);
+            call = CreateFakeCall(cq);
+        }
+
+        private static CallSafeHandle CreateFakeCall(CompletionQueueSafeHandle cq)
+        {
+            var call = CallSafeHandle.CreateFake(new IntPtr(0xdead), cq);
+            bool success = false;
+            while (!success)
+            {
+                // avoid calling destroy on a nonexistent grpc_call pointer
+                call.DangerousAddRef(ref success);
+            }
+            return call;
         }
 
+        [GlobalCleanup]
         public void Cleanup()
         {
-            metadata.Dispose();
+            metadata?.Dispose();
             metadata = null;
-            call.Dispose();
+            call?.Dispose();
             call = null;
+
+            if (environment != null)
+            {
+                environment = null;
+                GrpcEnvironment.ReleaseAsync().Wait();
+            }
         }
-        private INativeCall call;
+        private CallSafeHandle call;
         private MetadataArraySafeHandle metadata;
 
         const int Iterations = 1000;
@@ -62,8 +86,7 @@ namespace Grpc.Microbenchmarks
             var status = new Status(StatusCode.OK, payload);
             for (int i = 0; i < Iterations; i++)
             {
-                call.StartSendStatusFromServer(this, status,
-                    metadata, false, null, WriteFlags.NoCompress);
+                call.StartSendStatusFromServer(this, status, metadata, false, null, WriteFlags.NoCompress);
             }
         }