diff --git a/.github/workflows/studio-windows-inference-smoke.yml b/.github/workflows/studio-windows-inference-smoke.yml
index b33b6f9563..13bd8e58e2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/studio-windows-inference-smoke.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/studio-windows-inference-smoke.yml
@@ -73,15 +73,29 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: '3.12'
 
-      - name: Cache HF_HOME for ${{ env.GGUF_REPO }}
+      # Split restore + save (rather than the one-step actions/cache) so a
+      # transient restore-side failure does not kill the whole job. v5 has a
+      # known flake where it logs "Cache hit for: <key>" and then exits
+      # non-zero without actually extracting the archive (see
+      # actions/cache#1621 and github community discussion #163260).
+      # continue-on-error on restore masks that failure so the Prime step
+      # below can re-download from HF and the job keeps running. Save then
+      # populates the cache key on a real miss only; cache keys are
+      # immutable, so a corrupted cached entry persists until the -v1
+      # suffix below is bumped.
+      - name: Restore HF_HOME cache for ${{ env.GGUF_REPO }}
         id: cache-hf
-        uses: actions/cache@27d5ce7f107fe9357f9df03efb73ab90386fccae  # v5.0.5
+        uses: actions/cache/restore@27d5ce7f107fe9357f9df03efb73ab90386fccae  # v5.0.5
+        continue-on-error: true
         with:
           path: hf-cache
           key: ${{ runner.os }}-hf-${{ env.GGUF_REPO }}-${{ env.GGUF_VARIANT }}-v1
 
       - name: Prime HF_HOME with the GGUF
-        if: steps.cache-hf.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        id: prime-hf
+        # Run on a real cache miss AND on the silent-restore-failure mode
+        # described above (outcome != success).
+        if: steps.cache-hf.outputs.cache-hit != 'true' || steps.cache-hf.outcome != 'success'
         env:
           HF_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.HF_TOKEN }}
         run: |
@@ -90,6 +104,16 @@ jobs:
           HF_HUB_ENABLE_HF_TRANSFER=1 \
             hf download "$GGUF_REPO" "$GGUF_FILE"
 
+      - name: Save HF_HOME cache for ${{ env.GGUF_REPO }}
+        # Only write a fresh cache entry when we actually rebuilt the
+        # directory (Prime ran and succeeded). Skipping when Prime is
+        # skipped avoids "already exists" save warnings on the happy path.
+        if: always() && steps.prime-hf.outcome == 'success'
+        uses: actions/cache/save@27d5ce7f107fe9357f9df03efb73ab90386fccae  # v5.0.5
+        with:
+          path: hf-cache
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-hf-${{ env.GGUF_REPO }}-${{ env.GGUF_VARIANT }}-v1
+
       - name: Pre-install Windows tweaks (npm 11 + Defender exclusions)
         shell: pwsh
         # See studio-windows-update-smoke.yml for the full rationale.
@@ -375,15 +399,20 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: '3.12'
 
-      - name: Cache GGUF model file
+      # Split restore + save so a transient restore-side failure does not
+      # kill the whole job. See the matching block in the tool-calling job
+      # above for the full rationale (actions/cache#1621).
+      - name: Restore GGUF model cache
         id: cache-gguf
-        uses: actions/cache@27d5ce7f107fe9357f9df03efb73ab90386fccae  # v5.0.5
+        uses: actions/cache/restore@27d5ce7f107fe9357f9df03efb73ab90386fccae  # v5.0.5
+        continue-on-error: true
         with:
           path: gguf-cache
           key: ${{ runner.os }}-gguf-${{ env.GGUF_REPO }}-${{ env.GGUF_FILE }}-v1
 
       - name: Download GGUF if cache miss
-        if: steps.cache-gguf.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        id: download-gguf
+        if: steps.cache-gguf.outputs.cache-hit != 'true' || steps.cache-gguf.outcome != 'success'
         env:
           HF_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.HF_TOKEN }}
         run: |
@@ -392,6 +421,13 @@ jobs:
           HF_HUB_ENABLE_HF_TRANSFER=1 \
             hf download "$GGUF_REPO" "$GGUF_FILE" --local-dir gguf-cache
 
+      - name: Save GGUF model cache
+        if: always() && steps.download-gguf.outcome == 'success'
+        uses: actions/cache/save@27d5ce7f107fe9357f9df03efb73ab90386fccae  # v5.0.5
+        with:
+          path: gguf-cache
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-gguf-${{ env.GGUF_REPO }}-${{ env.GGUF_FILE }}-v1
+
       - name: Pre-install Windows tweaks (npm 11 + Defender exclusions)
         shell: pwsh
         # See studio-windows-update-smoke.yml for the full rationale.
@@ -771,15 +807,23 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: '3.12'
 
-      - name: Cache HF_HOME for ${{ env.GGUF_REPO }} (model + mmproj)
+      # Split restore + save so a transient restore-side failure does not
+      # kill the whole job. See the matching block in the tool-calling job
+      # for the full rationale (actions/cache#1621). This is the block that
+      # actually broke in run 25713577488: "Cache hit for: <key>" was
+      # logged, the step exited non-zero in ~0.3 s without extracting the
+      # 3.4 GiB archive, and steps 6-15 were skipped.
+      - name: Restore HF_HOME cache for ${{ env.GGUF_REPO }} (model + mmproj)
         id: cache-hf
-        uses: actions/cache@27d5ce7f107fe9357f9df03efb73ab90386fccae  # v5.0.5
+        uses: actions/cache/restore@27d5ce7f107fe9357f9df03efb73ab90386fccae  # v5.0.5
+        continue-on-error: true
         with:
           path: hf-cache
           key: ${{ runner.os }}-hf-${{ env.GGUF_REPO }}-${{ env.GGUF_VARIANT }}-${{ env.MMPROJ_FILE }}-v1
 
       - name: Prime HF_HOME with the GGUF + mmproj
-        if: steps.cache-hf.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        id: prime-hf
+        if: steps.cache-hf.outputs.cache-hit != 'true' || steps.cache-hf.outcome != 'success'
         env:
           HF_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.HF_TOKEN }}
         run: |
@@ -790,6 +834,13 @@ jobs:
           HF_HUB_ENABLE_HF_TRANSFER=1 \
             hf download "$GGUF_REPO" "$MMPROJ_FILE"
 
+      - name: Save HF_HOME cache for ${{ env.GGUF_REPO }} (model + mmproj)
+        if: always() && steps.prime-hf.outcome == 'success'
+        uses: actions/cache/save@27d5ce7f107fe9357f9df03efb73ab90386fccae  # v5.0.5
+        with:
+          path: hf-cache
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-hf-${{ env.GGUF_REPO }}-${{ env.GGUF_VARIANT }}-${{ env.MMPROJ_FILE }}-v1
+
       - name: Pre-install Windows tweaks (npm 11 + Defender exclusions)
         shell: pwsh
         # See studio-windows-update-smoke.yml for the full rationale.