GitHub Actions : The Windows 2016 runner image will be removed from GitHub-hosted runners on March 15, 2022

As part of our ongoing efforts to keep GitHub-hosted runners updated and secure, the Windows 2016 virtual environment will be removed from GitHub Actions on March 15, 2022. We recommend you change jobs using runs-on: windows-2016 to use runs-on: windows-latest which will ensure you're always running on the latest version of Windows Server.

If you need to pin your job to a specific version of Windows Server, you can see the full list of supported versions and instructions here: supported-runners-and-hardware-resources

To raise awareness of the upcoming removal, we will temporarily fail jobs using Windows 2016 for two short 'brownout' periods. Builds that are scheduled to run during the brownout periods will fail. The brownouts are scheduled for the following dates and times:

• December 1, 2021 4:00pm UTC – 10:00pm UTC
• February 7, 2022 4:00pm UTC – 10:00pm UTC

Once deprecated, the Windows 2016 image is now excluded from the service level agreement and warranty therefore it is recommended that you move to a supported version of Windows before March 15, 2022.

You can learn more about our software and image guidelines for GitHub-hosted runners in the virtual environment repository. Please contact support if you experience any issues due to this change.