diff --git a/.github/actions/install-cli/action.yml b/.github/actions/install-cli/action.yml
index 1058a41bccd..05726839617 100644
--- a/.github/actions/install-cli/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/install-cli/action.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ runs:
       if: runner.os == 'Windows'
       run: |
         npm install -g @aws-amplify/cli@${{ inputs.cli-version }}
-        $AMPLIFY_PATH=(Get-Command amplify).Path
+        # "where.exe" is used instead of "where" to disambiguate
+        # "where" is aliased to "Where-Object" in powershell, i.e. not pointing to the tool we want
+        # "amplify.cmd" is searched because "where.exe amplify" returns ambiguous list
+        $AMPLIFY_PATH=(where.exe amplify.cmd)
         echo "AMPLIFY_PATH=$AMPLIFY_PATH"
         "AMPLIFY_PATH=$AMPLIFY_PATH" >> $env:GITHUB_ENV
diff --git a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/README.md b/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/README.md
deleted file mode 100644
index f8b99d44a78..00000000000
--- a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/README.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-The Run Smoke Tests contains lightweight version of smoke tests for Windows.
-GitHub Action's Windows workers are small and using our E2E testing framework for smoke testing overwhelms them.
diff --git a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/action.yml b/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/action.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 0eeaa9fcaad..00000000000
--- a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/action.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,53 +0,0 @@
-name: Run Smoke Tests
-description: Executes Smoke Tests
-inputs:
-  role-to-assume:
-    description: an IAM role to use in tests
-    required: true
-  region:
-    description: an AWS region to run in
-    required: false
-    default: us-west-2
-runs:
-  using: 'composite'
-  steps:
-    - name: Verify Amplify Path
-      shell: bash
-      run: |
-        if [[ -z "$AMPLIFY_PATH" ]]; then
-          echo "AMPLIFY_PATH must be defined"
-          exit 1
-        fi
-        echo "AMPLIFY_PATH=$AMPLIFY_PATH"
-        $AMPLIFY_PATH version
-
-    - name: Configure AWS Credentials
-      uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@04b98b3f9e85f563fb061be8751a0352327246b0 # v3.0.1
-      with:
-        role-to-assume: ${{ inputs.role-to-assume }}
-        aws-region: ${{ inputs.region }}
-
-    - name: Install AWS CLI
-      shell: powershell
-      run: |
-        msiexec.exe /i https://awscli.amazonaws.com/AWSCLIV2.msi /qn
-        aws --version
-
-    - name: Configure Profile
-      shell: bash
-      run: |
-        aws configure set region ${{ inputs.region }} --profile default
-        aws configure set aws_access_key_id $AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID --profile default
-        aws configure set aws_secret_access_key $AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY --profile default
-        aws configure set aws_session_token  $AWS_SESSION_TOKEN --profile default
-
-    - name: Run Smoke Tests
-      shell: bash
-      run: .github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/windows-smoke-tests.sh
-
-    - name: Cleanup
-      shell: bash
-      if: always()
-      run: |
-        cd $AMPLIFY_PROJ_DIR
-        $AMPLIFY_PATH delete --force
diff --git a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/add_api_request.json b/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/add_api_request.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 31bd0c3dd0f..00000000000
--- a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/add_api_request.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "version": 1,
-  "serviceConfiguration": {
-    "serviceName": "AppSync",
-    "apiName": "myApiName",
-    "transformSchema": "type Todo @model { id: ID!  content: String}",
-    "defaultAuthType": { "mode": "API_KEY" }
-  }
-}
diff --git a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/add_auth_request.json b/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/add_auth_request.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 847d7da074d..00000000000
--- a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/add_auth_request.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "version": 2,
-  "resourceName": "myAuthResource",
-  "serviceConfiguration": {
-    "serviceName": "Cognito",
-    "includeIdentityPool": false,
-    "userPoolConfiguration": { "requiredSignupAttributes": ["EMAIL", "PHONE_NUMBER"], "signinMethod": "USERNAME" }
-  }
-}
diff --git a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/windows-smoke-tests.sh b/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/windows-smoke-tests.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 00ca2eca044..00000000000
--- a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows/windows-smoke-tests.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash -e
-
-$AMPLIFY_PATH version
-
-random_guid=$(powershell -Command "[guid]::NewGuid().ToString()")
-random_guid=${random_guid//-/}
-random_guid=${random_guid:0:6}
-projDir="smoke-test-${random_guid}"
-echo "AMPLIFY_PROJ_DIR=$projDir" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-
-# Read headless requests content. This must be done before we change directory to $projDir.
-THIS_SCRIPT_PATH=$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")
-ADD_AUTH_REQUEST=$(cat $THIS_SCRIPT_PATH/add_auth_request.json)
-ADD_AUTH_REQUEST=${ADD_AUTH_REQUEST//[$'\r\n']}
-ADD_API_REQUEST=$(cat $THIS_SCRIPT_PATH/add_api_request.json)
-ADD_API_REQUEST=${ADD_API_REQUEST//[$'\r\n']}
-
-mkdir $projDir
-cd $projDir
-
-$AMPLIFY_PATH init --yes
-
-$AMPLIFY_PATH status
-
-echo $ADD_AUTH_REQUEST
-$AMPLIFY_PATH add auth --headless <<< $ADD_AUTH_REQUEST
-
-$AMPLIFY_PATH status
-
-$AMPLIFY_PATH push --yes
-
-$AMPLIFY_PATH status
-
-echo $ADD_API_REQUEST
-$AMPLIFY_PATH add api --headless <<< $ADD_API_REQUEST
-
-$AMPLIFY_PATH status
-
-$AMPLIFY_PATH push --yes
-
-$AMPLIFY_PATH status
diff --git a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests/action.yml b/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests/action.yml
index f86126c1d3f..a0cf759c974 100644
--- a/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests/action.yml
+++ b/.github/actions/run-smoke-tests/action.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,14 @@ runs:
         echo "AMPLIFY_PATH=$AMPLIFY_PATH"
         $AMPLIFY_PATH version
 
+    - name: Remove Pkg Fetch Checksum on Windows
+      shell: bash
+      if: runner.os == 'Windows'
+      run: |
+        cd scripts
+        yarn
+        yarn ts-node remove-pkg-fetch-checksum.ts
+
     - name: Install Dependencies
       shell: bash
       run: yarn install --immutable
diff --git a/.github/workflows/smoke-tests-manual.yml b/.github/workflows/smoke-tests-manual.yml
index 0280df3e6d9..534a7d8b3f6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/smoke-tests-manual.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/smoke-tests-manual.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ on:
       os:
         required: false
         type: string
-        default: '["macos-latest-xl", "ubuntu-latest", "windows-latest"]'
+        default: '["macos-latest-xl", "ubuntu-latest", "amplify-cli_windows-latest_8-core"]'
       versions:
         required: false
         type: string
diff --git a/.github/workflows/smoke-tests.yml b/.github/workflows/smoke-tests.yml
index 835311caa49..79ef4b4dde6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/smoke-tests.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/smoke-tests.yml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ on:
       os:
         required: false
         type: string
-        default: '["macos-latest-xl", "ubuntu-latest", "windows-latest"]'
+        default: '["macos-latest-xl", "ubuntu-latest", "amplify-cli_windows-latest_8-core"]'
       versions:
         required: false
         type: string
@@ -40,14 +40,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           cli-version: ${{ matrix.cli-version }}
 
-      - name: Run Smoke Tests Unix
-        if: runner.os != 'Windows'
+      - name: Run Smoke Tests
         uses: ./.github/actions/run-smoke-tests
         with:
           role-to-assume: ${{ secrets.SMOKE_TESTS_ROLE_ARN }}
-
-      - name: Run Smoke Tests Windows
-        if: runner.os == 'Windows'
-        uses: ./.github/actions/run-smoke-tests-windows
-        with:
-          role-to-assume: ${{ secrets.SMOKE_TESTS_ROLE_ARN }}
diff --git a/packages/amplify-e2e-core/src/utils/nexpect.ts b/packages/amplify-e2e-core/src/utils/nexpect.ts
index b23fb505b58..1071f556723 100644
--- a/packages/amplify-e2e-core/src/utils/nexpect.ts
+++ b/packages/amplify-e2e-core/src/utils/nexpect.ts
@@ -737,7 +737,7 @@ export function nspawn(command: string | string[], params: string[] = [], option
   }
 
   const testingWithLatestCodebase = isTestingWithLatestCodebase(command);
-  if (testingWithLatestCodebase || (process.platform === 'win32' && !command.endsWith('.exe'))) {
+  if (testingWithLatestCodebase || (process.platform === 'win32' && !(command.endsWith('.exe') || command.endsWith('.cmd')))) {
     params.unshift(command);
     command = getScriptRunnerPath(testingWithLatestCodebase);
   }