diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 8266c03eaa72e..f539b64d8c829 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -117,12 +117,12 @@ jobs:
         with:
           fetch-depth: 2
 
-      # Free up disk space on Linux and Windows by removing preinstalled components that
+      # Free up disk space on Linux by removing preinstalled components that
       # we do not need. We do this to enable some of the less resource
       # intensive jobs to run on free runners, which however also have
       # less disk space.
       - name: free up disk space
-        run: src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space.sh
+        run: src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space-linux.sh
         if: matrix.free_disk
 
       # If we don't need to free up disk space then just report how much space we have
@@ -223,11 +223,6 @@ jobs:
           cd src/ci/citool
           CARGO_INCREMENTAL=0 CARGO_TARGET_DIR=../../../build/citool cargo build
 
-      - name: wait for Windows disk cleanup to finish
-        if: ${{ matrix.free_disk && startsWith(matrix.os, 'windows-') }}
-        run: |
-          python3 src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space-windows-wait.py
-
       - name: run the build
         run: |
           set +e
diff --git a/src/ci/github-actions/jobs.yml b/src/ci/github-actions/jobs.yml
index 8cfcc0c5b15ef..409d2cba8210e 100644
--- a/src/ci/github-actions/jobs.yml
+++ b/src/ci/github-actions/jobs.yml
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ runners:
 
   - &job-windows
     os: windows-2025
-    free_disk: true
     <<: *base-job
 
   - &job-windows-8c
diff --git a/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space-windows-start.py b/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space-windows-start.py
deleted file mode 100644
index fbaad722bffdb..0000000000000
--- a/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space-windows-start.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,72 +0,0 @@
-"""
-Start freeing disk space on Windows in the background by launching
-the PowerShell cleanup script, and recording the PID in a file,
-so later steps can wait for completion.
-"""
-
-import subprocess
-from pathlib import Path
-from free_disk_space_windows_util import get_pid_file, get_log_file, run_main
-
-
-def get_cleanup_script() -> Path:
-    script_dir = Path(__file__).resolve().parent
-    cleanup_script = script_dir / "free-disk-space-windows.ps1"
-    if not cleanup_script.exists():
-        raise Exception(f"Cleanup script '{cleanup_script}' not found")
-    return cleanup_script
-
-
-def write_pid(pid: int):
-    pid_file = get_pid_file()
-    if pid_file.exists():
-        raise Exception(f"Pid file '{pid_file}' already exists")
-    pid_file.write_text(str(pid))
-    print(f"wrote pid {pid} in file {pid_file}")
-
-
-def launch_cleanup_process():
-    cleanup_script = get_cleanup_script()
-    log_file_path = get_log_file()
-    # Launch the PowerShell cleanup in the background and redirect logs.
-    try:
-        with open(log_file_path, "w", encoding="utf-8") as log_file:
-            proc = subprocess.Popen(
-                [
-                    "pwsh",
-                    # Suppress PowerShell startup banner/logo for cleaner logs.
-                    "-NoLogo",
-                    # Don't load user/system profiles. Ensures a clean, predictable environment.
-                    "-NoProfile",
-                    # Disable interactive prompts. Required for CI to avoid hangs.
-                    "-NonInteractive",
-                    # Execute the specified script file (next argument).
-                    "-File",
-                    str(cleanup_script),
-                ],
-                # Write child stdout to the log file.
-                stdout=log_file,
-                # Merge stderr into stdout for a single, ordered log stream.
-                stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
-            )
-            print(
-                f"Started free-disk-space cleanup in background. "
-                f"pid={proc.pid}; log_file={log_file_path}"
-            )
-            return proc
-    except FileNotFoundError as e:
-        raise Exception("pwsh not found on PATH; cannot start disk cleanup.") from e
-
-
-def main() -> int:
-    proc = launch_cleanup_process()
-
-    # Write pid of the process to a file, so that later steps can read it and wait
-    # until the process completes.
-    write_pid(proc.pid)
-
-    return 0
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    run_main(main)
diff --git a/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space-windows-wait.py b/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space-windows-wait.py
deleted file mode 100644
index d510781d534e3..0000000000000
--- a/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space-windows-wait.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,92 +0,0 @@
-"""
-Wait for the background Windows disk cleanup process.
-"""
-
-import ctypes
-import time
-from free_disk_space_windows_util import get_pid_file, get_log_file, run_main
-
-
-def is_process_running(pid: int) -> bool:
-    PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION = 0x1000
-    processHandle = ctypes.windll.kernel32.OpenProcess(
-        PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION, 0, pid
-    )
-    if processHandle == 0:
-        # The process is not running.
-        # If you don't have the sufficient rights to check if a process is running,
-        # zero is also returned. But in GitHub Actions we have these rights.
-        return False
-    else:
-        ctypes.windll.kernel32.CloseHandle(processHandle)
-        return True
-
-
-def print_logs():
-    """Print the logs from the cleanup script."""
-    log_file = get_log_file()
-    if log_file.exists():
-        print("free-disk-space logs:")
-        # Print entire log; replace undecodable bytes to avoid exceptions.
-        try:
-            with open(log_file, "r", encoding="utf-8", errors="replace") as f:
-                print(f.read())
-        except Exception as e:
-            raise Exception(f"Failed to read log file '{log_file}'") from e
-    else:
-        print(f"::warning::Log file '{log_file}' not found")
-
-
-def read_pid_from_file() -> int:
-    """Read the PID from the pid file."""
-
-    pid_file = get_pid_file()
-    if not pid_file.exists():
-        raise Exception(
-            f"No background free-disk-space process to wait for: pid file {pid_file} not found"
-        )
-
-    pid_file_content = pid_file.read_text().strip()
-
-    # Delete the file if it exists
-    pid_file.unlink(missing_ok=True)
-
-    try:
-        # Read the first line and convert to int.
-        pid = int(pid_file_content.splitlines()[0])
-        return pid
-    except Exception as e:
-        raise Exception(
-            f"Error while parsing the pid file with content '{pid_file_content!r}'"
-        ) from e
-
-
-def wait_for_process(pid: int):
-    timeout_duration_seconds = 5 * 60
-    interval_seconds = 3
-    max_attempts = timeout_duration_seconds / interval_seconds
-    attempts = 0
-
-    # Poll until process exits
-    while is_process_running(pid):
-        if attempts >= max_attempts:
-            print(
-                "::warning::Timeout expired while waiting for the disk cleanup process to finish."
-            )
-            break
-        time.sleep(interval_seconds)
-        attempts += 1
-
-
-def main() -> int:
-    pid = read_pid_from_file()
-
-    wait_for_process(pid)
-
-    print_logs()
-
-    return 0
-
-
-if __name__ == "__main__":
-    run_main(main)
diff --git a/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space-windows.ps1 b/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space-windows.ps1
deleted file mode 100644
index 8a4677bd2ab42..0000000000000
--- a/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space-windows.ps1
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,35 +0,0 @@
-# Free disk space on Windows GitHub action runners.
-
-$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
-
-Get-Volume | Out-String | Write-Output
-
-$available = $(Get-Volume C).SizeRemaining
-
-$dirs = 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\2022\Enterprise\VC\Tools\Llvm',
-'C:\rtools45', 'C:\ghcup', 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Android',
-'C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome', 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft\Edge',
-'C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox', 'C:\Program Files\MySQL', 'C:\Julia',
-'C:\Program Files\MongoDB', 'C:\Program Files\Azure Cosmos DB Emulator',
-'C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL', 'C:\Program Files\Unity Hub',
-'C:\Strawberry', 'C:\hostedtoolcache\windows\Java_Temurin-Hotspot_jdk'
-
-foreach ($dir in $dirs) {
-    Start-ThreadJob -InputObject $dir {
-        Remove-Item -Recurse -Force -LiteralPath $input
-    } | Out-Null
-}
-
-foreach ($job in Get-Job) {
-    Wait-Job $job  | Out-Null
-    if ($job.Error) {
-        Write-Output "::warning file=$PSCommandPath::$($job.Error)"
-    }
-    Remove-Job $job
-}
-
-Get-Volume | Out-String | Write-Output
-
-$saved = ($(Get-Volume C).SizeRemaining - $available) / 1gb
-$savedRounded = [math]::Round($saved, 3)
-Write-Output "total space saved: $savedRounded GB"
diff --git a/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space.sh b/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 9264fe4de6d8e..0000000000000
--- a/src/ci/scripts/free-disk-space.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,10 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-set -euo pipefail
-
-script_dir=$(dirname "$0")
-
-if [[ "${RUNNER_OS:-}" == "Windows" ]]; then
-    python3 "$script_dir/free-disk-space-windows-start.py"
-else
-    $script_dir/free-disk-space-linux.sh
-fi
diff --git a/src/ci/scripts/free_disk_space_windows_util.py b/src/ci/scripts/free_disk_space_windows_util.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 488187864c2f8..0000000000000
--- a/src/ci/scripts/free_disk_space_windows_util.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,29 +0,0 @@
-"""
-Utilities for Windows disk space cleanup scripts.
-"""
-
-import os
-from pathlib import Path
-import sys
-
-
-def get_temp_dir() -> Path:
-    """Get the temporary directory set by GitHub Actions."""
-    return Path(os.environ.get("RUNNER_TEMP"))
-
-
-def get_pid_file() -> Path:
-    return get_temp_dir() / "free-disk-space.pid"
-
-
-def get_log_file() -> Path:
-    return get_temp_dir() / "free-disk-space.log"
-
-
-def run_main(main_fn):
-    exit_code = 1
-    try:
-        exit_code = main_fn()
-    except Exception as e:
-        print(f"::error::{e}")
-    sys.exit(exit_code)