Lab: Runner - Windows Latest

Introduction

In this lab, you will create and execute a GitHub Actions workflow that runs on the windows-latest GitHub-hosted runner. This lab demonstrates how to display basic operating system information and print custom messages using a Windows environment.

Estimated Duration: 15–20 minutes

Instructions

Step 1: Set up your repository

  1. Navigate to your GitHub repository where you want to create the workflow.

    • If you don’t have a repository yet, create a new one by clicking + > New repository.

Step 2: Create the workflow file

  1. In your repository, click the Code tab (if not already there).

  2. Navigate to the .github folder. If it doesn’t exist:

    • Click Add file > Create new file
    • Name the new file: .github/workflows/runner-windows-latest.yml

  3. Paste the following YAML content into the file:

    name: Runner - Windows Latest

on: workflow_dispatch

jobs:
  run:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - run: echo "This is a message from windows latest runner"
      - name: Display OS Information
        run: |
          systeminfo

  4. Click Commit new file to save the workflow.

Step 3: Understand the workflow

  1. Workflow name: Runner - Windows Latest
  2. Trigger: workflow_dispatch – the workflow must be triggered manually.
  3. Runner: Uses GitHub-hosted windows-latest environment.

  4. Steps:

    • The first step prints a custom message using Windows PowerShell or Command Prompt.
    • The second step runs the systeminfo command to display OS details.

Step 4: Trigger the workflow manually

  1. Go to the Actions tab in your repository.
  2. Click on Runner - Windows Latest from the workflow list.
  3. Click the Run workflow button and confirm by clicking the green Run workflow button in the dropdown.

Step 5: View the output

  1. Once the workflow starts, click on the most recent run listed.
  2. Click on the run job to expand it.

  3. Review the logs for:

    • The custom echo message.
    • Detailed OS information such as OS version, system manufacturer, memory, and more from the systeminfo command.

Summary

In this lab, you created and executed a GitHub Actions workflow that runs on the windows-latest runner. You used it to print system information and understand the characteristics of the Windows environment used by GitHub-hosted runners.

Additional Resources