Hey Everyone!
Updated edge images are being released for Windows Server 2025 (standard GUI) and Windows Server 2022 (NVIDIA / CUDA).
This release is available under the edge tag (also currently published as canary).
They are also available as dated tags if you wish to pin.
windows-server-2025-gui:2026.05.1
windows-server-2022-nvidia-medium:2026.05.1
Note: Edge-only dated tags will automatically redirect to the current published image once the new images are rolled out.
What’s New
Standard Update
A broad refresh of toolchains across both images: aws-cli, Docker, gcloud, Git, Git LFS, Go, Node.js, npm, OpenJDK, Python, Ruby, Rust, Chocolatey, Azure CLI, jq, Vim, and xz have all been updated.
The shell environment has moved from MSYS bash (5.2.37) to Cygwin bash (5.3.9), and the underlying kernel has been bumped from 3.5.7 to 3.6.7.
Windows Server 2025
-
Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools and Community Edition (17.14.33, May 2026) are now installed by default.
-
.NET runtimes expanded to include 8.0 and 9.0 alongside 6.0/7.0.
-
OpenJDK moved from 22 to 25.
CUDA (Windows Server 2022 NVIDIA)
CUDA-enabled edge image has been updated. For guidance on utilizing these images, please refer to our documentation on: Using the GPU execution environment - CircleCI
New in this release: NVIDIA driver updated from 581.42 to 596.49 (CUDA runtime advanced from 13.0 to 13.2). Visual Studio 2022 bumped from 17.14.17 to 17.14.33. .NET runtime support extended to include 10.0.
Example
version: 2.1
workflows:
main:
jobs:
- build
jobs:
build:
machine:
image: windows-server-2025-gui:edge
resource_class: windows.medium
steps:
- checkout
- run: echo "Do some things"
Software Versions
Notes:
-
The “Old version” column reflects the previously published
currentimage (dated2025.10.1). -
The “New version” column reflects the upcoming edge image (dated
2026.05.1). -
Some software has more than one version installed; the default is shown.
Windows Server 2025 (GUI)
| Software | Old version (2025.10.1) | New version (2026.05.1) |
|---|---|---|
| Kernel (uname -r) | 3.5.7-882031da.x86_64 | 3.6.7-fb42d713.x86_64 |
| Bash | 5.2.37 (MSYS) | 5.3.9 (Cygwin) |
| aws-cli | 2.31.8 | 2.34.46 |
| Azure CLI | 2.77.0 | 2.86.0 |
| Chocolatey | 2.5.1 | 2.7.2 |
| Docker | 25.0.3 | 29.4.0 |
| Google Cloud SDK | 538.0.0 | 568.0.0 |
| Git | 2.48.1 | 2.54.0 |
| Git LFS | 3.6.1 | 3.7.1 |
| Go | 1.25.1 | 1.26.3 |
| jq | 1.7.0 | 1.8.1 |
| Node.js | 24.9.0 | 26.1.0 |
| npm | 11.6.0 | 11.13.0 |
| OpenJDK | 22.0.2 | 25 |
| Python | 3.13.7 | 3.14.5 |
| Ruby | 3.4.5 | 3.4.9 |
| Rust | 1.90.0 | 1.95.0 |
| Visual Studio 2022 | not installed | 17.14.33 (May 2026) |
| Vim | 9.1.1818 | 9.2.478 |
| xz Utils | 5.6.4 | 5.8.3 |
Additional changes: .NET runtimes expanded from 6.0/7.0 to include 8.0 and 9.0; visualstudio2022buildtools and visualstudio2022community (117.14.32) added.
Windows Server 2022 (NVIDIA / CUDA)
| Software | Old version (2025.10.1) | New version (2026.05.1) |
|---|---|---|
| Kernel (uname -r) | 3.5.7-882031da.x86_64 | 3.6.7-fb42d713.x86_64 |
| Bash | 5.2.37 (MSYS) | 5.3.9 (Cygwin) |
| aws-cli | 2.31.8 | 2.34.46 |
| Azure CLI | 2.77.0 | 2.86.0 |
| Chocolatey | 2.5.1 | 2.7.2 |
| Docker | 25.0.3 | 29.4.0 |
| Google Cloud SDK | 538.0.0 | 568.0.0 |
| Git | 2.48.1 | 2.54.0 |
| Git LFS | 3.6.1 | 3.7.1 |
| Go | 1.25.1 | 1.26.3 |
| jq | 1.7.0 | 1.8.1 |
| Node.js | 24.9.0 | 26.1.0 |
| npm | 11.6.0 | 11.13.0 |
| OpenJDK | 22.0.2 | 25 |
| Python | 3.13.7 | 3.14.5 |
| Ruby | 3.4.5 | 3.4.9 |
| Rust | 1.90.0 | 1.95.0 |
| Syft | 1.33.0 | 1.42.4 |
| Visual Studio 2022 | 17.14.17 | 17.14.33 (May 2026) |
| xz Utils | 5.6.4 | 5.8.3 |
CUDA (Windows Server 2022)
| Software | Old version (2025.10.1) | New version (2026.05.1) |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA Driver | 581.42 | 596.49 |
| CUDA runtime (nvidia-smi) | 13.0 | 13.2 |
| CUDA Toolkit (Chocolatey) | 12.9.1.576 | 12.9.1.576 |
Additional changes: .NET runtimes extended to include 10.0 alongside 6.0/7.0/8.0/9.0; visualstudio2022buildtools and visualstudio2022community bumped from 117.8.4 to 117.14.32.