diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 185ff42fd..70a352db8 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ GOVERSION ?= 1.17
 # These env vars have default values set from hack/release.sh, the values
 # shown here are for `make` and `make verify` only
 LINUX_ARCH ?= amd64
-WINDOWS_DISTROS ?=
 
 DOCKER=DOCKER_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL=enabled docker
 STAGINGVERSION=${VERSION}
@@ -39,9 +38,7 @@ all: build-container-linux-amd64
 
 cross: init-buildx \
 	$(addprefix build-and-push-container-linux-,$(LINUX_ARCH)) \
-	$(addprefix build-and-push-node-cleanup-controller-linux-,$(LINUX_ARCH)) \
-	$(addprefix build-and-push-container-windows-,$(WINDOWS_DISTROS)) \
-	$(addprefix build-and-push-node-cleanup-controller-windows-,$(WINDOWS_DISTROS))
+	$(addprefix build-and-push-node-cleanup-controller-linux-,$(LINUX_ARCH))
 .PHONY: cross
 
 verify:
diff --git a/cloudbuild.yaml b/cloudbuild.yaml
index 8daa842d0..c56c9cb8a 100644
--- a/cloudbuild.yaml
+++ b/cloudbuild.yaml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ steps:
   - GIT_TAG=${_GIT_TAG}
   - PULL_BASE_REF=${_PULL_BASE_REF}
   - HOME=/root
-  # intentionally not setting LINUX_ARCH and WINDOWS_DISTROS
+  # intentionally not setting LINUX_ARCH
   # the default ones in hack/release.sh will be used instead
 substitutions:
   # _GIT_TAG will be filled with a git-based tag for the image, of the form vYYYYMMDD-hash, and
diff --git a/hack/release.sh b/hack/release.sh
index 4542d3d36..817862544 100755
--- a/hack/release.sh
+++ b/hack/release.sh
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ Environments:
     SKIP_BUILD                  set this to skip build phase (debug only)
     SKIP_PUSH_LATEST            set this to skip pushing the latest stable image as the latest image
     LINUX_ARCH                  Linux architectures to build
-    WINDOWS_DISTROS             Windows distros to build
 
 Examples:
 
@@ -66,7 +65,7 @@ Examples:
 
 3) Release multi-arch image to your own registry
 
-    REGISTRY=quay.io/<yourname> LINUX_ARCH="amd64 arm64" WINDOWS_DISTROS="ltsc2019 1909" ./hack/release.sh
+    REGISTRY=quay.io/<yourname> LINUX_ARCH="amd64 arm64" ./hack/release.sh
 
 EOF
 }
@@ -91,7 +90,6 @@ ALLOW_OVERRIDE=${ALLOW_OVERRIDE:-}
 SKIP_BUILD=${SKIP_BUILD:-}
 SKIP_PUSH_LATEST=${SKIP_PUSH_LATEST:-}
 LINUX_ARCH=${LINUX_ARCH:-amd64 arm arm64 ppc64le s390x}
-WINDOWS_DISTROS=${WINDOWS_DISTROS:-1809 ltsc2022}
 
 echo "REGISTRY: $REGISTRY"
 echo "VERSION: $VERSION"
@@ -104,7 +102,6 @@ echo "ALLOW_OVERRIDE: $ALLOW_OVERRIDE"
 echo "SKIP_BUILD: $SKIP_BUILD"
 echo "SKIP_PUSH_LATEST: $SKIP_PUSH_LATEST"
 echo "LINUX_ARCH: $LINUX_ARCH"
-echo "WINDOWS_DISTROS: $WINDOWS_DISTROS"
 go version
 
 IMAGE="$REGISTRY/local-volume-provisioner"
@@ -217,8 +214,7 @@ if [ -z "$SKIP_BUILD" ]; then
     make cross \
         REGISTRY=$REGISTRY \
         VERSION=$VERSION \
-        LINUX_ARCH="$LINUX_ARCH" \
-        WINDOWS_DISTROS="$WINDOWS_DISTROS"
+        LINUX_ARCH="$LINUX_ARCH"
 else
     echo "info: build and push is skipped"
 fi
@@ -234,10 +230,7 @@ function docker_create_multi_arch() {
     local linux_images=$(echo "${LINUX_ARCH}" | tr ' ' '\n' | while read -r arch; do \
         echo $image:${VERSION}_linux_${arch}; \
     done);
-    local windows_images=$(echo "${WINDOWS_DISTROS}" | tr ' ' '\n' | while read -r distro; do \
-        echo $image:${VERSION}_windows_${distro}; \
-    done);
-    local all_images="${linux_images} ${windows_images}"
+    local all_images="${linux_images}"
 
     # create a manifest with all the images created
     docker manifest create --amend $manifest_image $all_images
@@ -249,15 +242,6 @@ function docker_create_multi_arch() {
         docker manifest annotate --arch $arch $manifest_image $linux_image
     done
 
-    # annotate the windows images with the base image os-version
-    # from https://github.com/kubernetes-csi/csi-release-tools/blob/5b9a1e06794ddb137ff7e2d565416cc6934ec380/build.make#L181-L189
-    echo "${WINDOWS_DISTROS}" | tr ' ' '\n' | while read -r distro; do
-        local windows_image=$image:${VERSION}_windows_${distro}
-        # the image matches the value in the Makefile
-        local os_version=$(docker manifest inspect mcr.microsoft.com/windows/servercore:${distro} | grep "os.version" | head -n 1 | awk '{print $2}' | sed -e 's/"//g')
-        docker manifest annotate --os-version ${os_version} $manifest_image $windows_image
-    done
-
     docker manifest push --purge $manifest_image
 }
 
@@ -290,4 +274,4 @@ echo "info: VERSION '$VERSION' is latest stable version, tagging $IMAGE as lates
 docker_create_multi_arch latest $IMAGE
 
 echo "info: VERSION '$VERSION' is latest stable version, tagging $NODECLEANUPCONTROLLERIMAGE as latest"
-docker_create_multi_arch latest $NODECLEANUPCONTROLLERIMAGE
+docker_create_multi_arch latest $NODECLEANUPCONTROLLERIMAGE
\ No newline at end of file