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Research-0664: Windows CUDA toolkit installer failure

  • Status: Active
  • Workstream: ADR-0664
  • Last updated: 2026-05-21

Question

Why did the required Build — Windows MSVC + CUDA (build only) CI leg fail on PR #1463 before build output, and what is the smallest fix that preserves the required MSVC CUDA compilation gate?

Evidence

  • GitHub Actions job 77141384870 failed in the Install CUDA toolkit (windows) step. The job never reached nv-codec-headers, Meson configure, or Ninja.
  • The log shows Jimver/cuda-toolkit@3d45d157... with CUDA 13.2.0, method network, and Windows sub-packages nvcc, cudart, crt, nvvm, and visual_studio_integration.
  • The same workflow's Linux CUDA and CUDA static legs completed successfully with CUDA 13.2.0, so this is not evidence of a project-wide CUDA-version rollback requirement.
  • The pinned action source maps CUDA 13.2.0 to NVIDIA's current Windows network installer URL: https://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/13.2.0/network_installers/cuda_13.2.0_windows_network.exe. A HEAD request on 2026-05-21 returned HTTP 200.
  • The Windows network installer accepts silent package arguments with the _<major>.<minor> suffix. That is exactly what the wrapper would generate for nvcc_13.2, cudart_13.2, crt_13.2, nvvm_13.2, and visual_studio_integration_13.2.

Finding

The project code did not fail. The Windows CUDA setup wrapper failed before it could install the toolkit or expose a compiler log. Replacing only the Windows CUDA setup step with a direct NVIDIA network-installer invocation keeps the same toolchain version, same sub-package set, and same required build gate while removing the failing wrapper layer.

Validation Plan

  • bash -n is not applicable to the PowerShell workflow body.
  • Run git diff --check.
  • Run .venv/bin/mkdocs build --strict after ADR/docs updates.
  • Let the active PR exercise Build — Windows MSVC + CUDA (build only) because the failure is Windows-runner specific.