diff --git a/.github/workflows/windows.yml b/.github/workflows/windows.yml
index acbc50fdc..e2a2c8cef 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/windows.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/windows.yml
@@ -15,22 +15,16 @@ jobs:
       || (github.event.pull_request.head.repo.id != github.event.pull_request.base.repo.id)
     name: Build .zip
     runs-on: windows-latest
-    defaults:
-      run:
-        shell: msys2 {0}
     steps:
       -
         uses: msys2/setup-msys2@v2
         with:
-          release: false
-          update: false
           path-type: inherit
           install: >-
             zip
-            rsync
       -
         name: Checkout repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
       -
         uses: actions/setup-node@v3
         with:
@@ -41,17 +35,16 @@ jobs:
             src/bin/doc/package-lock.json
       -
         name: Install all dependencies and symlink for ep_etherpad-lite
-        run: |
-          set MSYSTEM=winsymlinks:lnk
-          src/bin/installDeps.sh
+        shell: msys2 {0}
+        run: src/bin/installDeps.sh
       -
         name: Run the backend tests
+        shell: msys2 {0}
         run: cd src && npm test
       -
         name: Build the .zip
-        run: |
-          set MSYSTEM=winsymlinks:lnk
-          src/bin/buildForWindows.sh
+        shell: msys2 {0}
+        run: src/bin/buildForWindows.sh
       -
         name: Archive production artifacts
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
@@ -69,7 +62,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       -
         name: Checkout repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
       -
         name: Download .zip
         uses: actions/download-artifact@v3
@@ -96,7 +89,7 @@ jobs:
     # run on pushes to any branch
     # run on PRs from external forks
     permissions:
-      contents: none
+      contents: write
     if: |
       (github.event_name != 'pull_request')
       || (github.event.pull_request.head.repo.id != github.event.pull_request.base.repo.id)
@@ -130,3 +123,13 @@ jobs:
           node node_modules\ep_etherpad-lite\node\server.js &
           curl --connect-timeout 10 --max-time 20 --retry 5 --retry-delay 10 --retry-max-time 60 --retry-connrefused http://127.0.0.1:9001/p/test
           src\node_modules\cypress\bin\cypress run --config-file src\tests\frontendcypress\cypress.config.js
+      # On release, upload windows zip to GitHub release tab
+      -
+        name: Rename to etherpad-lite-win.zip
+        shell: powershell
+        run: mv etherpad-win.zip etherpad-lite-win.zip
+      - name: upload binaries to release
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
+        if: ${{startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/') }}
+        with:
+            files: etherpad-lite-win.zip