diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index dc8ac539a3a09..cd1ea2452474b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -224,6 +224,25 @@ jobs:
           cd src/ci/citool
           CARGO_INCREMENTAL=0 CARGO_TARGET_DIR=../../../build/citool cargo build
 
+      - name: Free Diskspace
+        shell: pwsh
+        if: runner.os == 'Windows'
+        run: |
+          Get-Volume | Out-String | Write-Host
+          $dirs = 'C:\Program Files\LLVM\bin',
+                  'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Enterprise\VC\Tools\Llvm',
+                  'C:\rtools45', 'C:\ghcup', 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Android',
+                  'C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome', 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge',
+                  'C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox', 'C:\Program Files\MySQL', 'C:\Julia',
+                  'C:\Program Files\MongoDB', 'C:\Program Files\Azure Cosmos DB Emulator',
+                  'C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL', 'C:\Program Files\Unity Hub', 'C:\ProgramData\chocolatey',
+                  'C:\Strawberry', 'C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Java_Temurin-Hotspot_jdk'
+          # The following are system directories that are typically large but should only be deleted
+          # if we're desperate for space.
+          # 'C:\Windows\Installer', 'C:\ProgramData\Package Cache', 
+          Remove-Item -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction Continue $dirs
+          Get-Volume | Out-String | Write-Host
+      
       - name: run the build
         run: |
           set +e
diff --git a/src/ci/github-actions/jobs.yml b/src/ci/github-actions/jobs.yml
index f0c52fe3d1ca0..d77eb848644a1 100644
--- a/src/ci/github-actions/jobs.yml
+++ b/src/ci/github-actions/jobs.yml
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ runners:
     <<: *base-job
 
   - &job-windows
-    os: windows-2022
+    os: windows-2025
     <<: *base-job
 
   # NOTE: windows-2025 has less disk space available than windows-2022,
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ runners:
     <<: *base-job
 
   - &job-windows-8c
-    os: windows-2022-8core-32gb
+    os: windows-2025-8core-32gb
     <<: *base-job
 
   - &job-windows-25-8c
@@ -172,9 +172,9 @@ try:
 optional:
   # This job is used just to test optional jobs.
   # It will be replaced by tier 2 and tier 3 jobs in the future.
-  - name: optional-mingw-check-1
+  - name: optional-pr-check-1
     env:
-      IMAGE: mingw-check-1
+      IMAGE: pr-check-1
     <<: *job-linux-4c
 
 # Main CI jobs that have to be green to merge a commit into master