diff --git a/.github/workflows/test-windows-pack.yml b/.github/workflows/test-windows-pack.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..be896c6f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/test-windows-pack.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+name: Build Windows installer (test artifact)
+
+# Manual/PR-triggered build to validate the Windows installer without cutting a release.
+# Builds on ubuntu-latest (same as the official release) and uploads the .exe
+# files as downloadable workflow artifacts.
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - 'scripts/pretarball.js'
+      - 'package.json'
+      - '.github/workflows/test-windows-pack.yml'
+
+jobs:
+  build-windows:
+    name: Build Windows installer
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Setup Node.js
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v6
+        with:
+          node-version: '24'
+
+      - name: Install NSIS and 7zip
+        run: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y p7zip-full nsis
+
+      # npm cli 10 has a caching bug that can break the pack step
+      - name: Install latest npm
+        run: npm install -g npm@latest
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: npm ci
+
+      - name: Build project
+        run: npm run build
+
+      - name: Pack Windows installer
+        run: npm run pack:windows
+
+      - name: Upload installer artifacts
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: asyncapi-windows-installers
+          path: dist/win32/*.exe
+          if-no-files-found: error
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 2050ca04b..707c5781d 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -178,6 +178,7 @@
     "pack:tarballs:alpine": "oclif pack tarballs -t linux-x64 && npm run pack:rename alpine",
     "pack:windows": "oclif pack win && npm run pack:rename",
     "pack:rename": "node scripts/releasePackagesRename.js",
+    "pretarball": "node ./scripts/pretarball.js",
     "publish:trusted": "echo \"Working around changesets action not supporting OIDC yet. Need to pass successful release output for triggering github release\";VERSION=$(node -p \"require('./package.json').version\"); PACKAGE_NAME=$(node -p \"require('./package.json').name\"); if npm view $PACKAGE_NAME@$VERSION > /dev/null 2>&1; then echo \"Version $VERSION of package $PACKAGE_NAME already published to NPM. Skipping GitHub release.\"; else git tag v$VERSION -m v$VERSION; echo \"New tag: $PACKAGE_NAME@$VERSION.\"; fi",
     "prepublishOnly": "npm run build",
     "pretest": "npm run build",
diff --git a/scripts/pretarball.js b/scripts/pretarball.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aa61e29f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/pretarball.js
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/* eslint-disable no-console */
+/*
+ * scripts/pretarball.js
+ *
+ * Run by oclif (`npm run pretarball`) inside the packing workspace,
+ * AFTER `npm install --production` and BEFORE the installer/tarball is built
+ * (see oclif's tarballs build step). The current working directory is the
+ * oclif workspace root.
+ *
+ * It removes the Next.js `output: 'standalone'` build that is shipped inside
+ * the published `@asyncapi/studio` package. The CLI launches Studio/Preview
+ * via the programmatic Next server with `distDir: 'build'`
+ * (see src/domains/models/Studio.ts and src/domains/models/Preview.ts), which
+ * reads from `build/` as described by `build/required-server-files.json` and
+ * never uses `build/standalone`.
+ *
+ * That standalone folder contains a deeply-nested, pnpm-structured
+ * `node_modules/.pnpm/next@.../...` tree with paths exceeding the Windows
+ * 260-character MAX_PATH limit, which breaks the NSIS Windows installer with
+ * "Error opening file for writing". Pruning it here keeps those paths out of
+ * every packed artifact (win/macos/linux) without affecting runtime behaviour.
+ *
+ * See: https://github.com/asyncapi/cli/issues/2239
+ */
+
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+
+// Paths are relative to the oclif workspace root (process.cwd()).
+const targets = [
+  path.join('node_modules', '@asyncapi', 'studio', 'build', 'standalone'),
+];
+
+for (const rel of targets) {
+  const abs = path.resolve(process.cwd(), rel);
+  if (fs.existsSync(abs)) {
+    fs.rmSync(abs, { recursive: true, force: true });
+    console.log(`[pretarball] removed ${rel}`);
+  } else {
+    console.log(`[pretarball] skip (not found) ${rel}`);
+  }
+}