diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
index 3a0ce3625d7..3671da42383 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-default.sh
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ export KUBELET_TEST_ARGS=${KUBE_KUBELET_EXTRA_ARGS:-}
 
 # Default container runtime
 export CONTAINER_RUNTIME=${KUBE_CONTAINER_RUNTIME:-containerd}
+# Default container runtime for windows
+export WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME=${KUBE_WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME:-docker}
 
 # Set default values with override
 if [[ "${CONTAINER_RUNTIME}" == "docker" ]]; then
diff --git a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
index 0f9cd3dd353..7bd4c276d7b 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/config-test.sh
@@ -96,8 +96,10 @@ export NODE_IMAGE=${KUBE_GCE_NODE_IMAGE:-${GCI_VERSION}}
 export NODE_IMAGE_PROJECT=${KUBE_GCE_NODE_PROJECT:-cos-cloud}
 export NODE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT=${KUBE_GCE_NODE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT:-default}
 
-# Default container runtime
+# Default container runtime for linux
 export CONTAINER_RUNTIME=${KUBE_CONTAINER_RUNTIME:-containerd}
+# Default container runtime for windows
+export WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME=${KUBE_WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME:-docker}
 
 # Set default values with override
 if [[ "${CONTAINER_RUNTIME}" == "docker" ]]; then
diff --git a/cluster/gce/util.sh b/cluster/gce/util.sh
index 18b676cbe6c..14517c5da25 100755
--- a/cluster/gce/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gce/util.sh
@@ -897,11 +897,11 @@ function construct-windows-kubelet-flags {
   # Force disable KubeletPodResources feature on Windows until #78628 is fixed.
   flags+=" --feature-gates=KubeletPodResources=false"
 
-  if [[ "${CONTAINER_RUNTIME:-}" != "docker" ]]; then
+  if [[ "${WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME:-}" != "docker" ]]; then
     flags+=" --container-runtime=remote"
-    if [[ "${CONTAINER_RUNTIME}" == "containerd" ]]; then
-      CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT=${KUBE_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT:-npipe:////./pipe/containerd-containerd}
-      flags+=" --container-runtime-endpoint=${CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT}"
+    if [[ "${WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME}" == "containerd" ]]; then
+      WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT=${KUBE_WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT:-npipe:////./pipe/containerd-containerd}
+      flags+=" --container-runtime-endpoint=${WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT}"
     fi
   fi
 
@@ -1550,6 +1550,8 @@ CNI_DIR: $(yaml-quote ${WINDOWS_CNI_DIR})
 CNI_CONFIG_DIR: $(yaml-quote ${WINDOWS_CNI_CONFIG_DIR})
 WINDOWS_CNI_STORAGE_PATH: $(yaml-quote ${WINDOWS_CNI_STORAGE_PATH})
 WINDOWS_CNI_VERSION: $(yaml-quote ${WINDOWS_CNI_VERSION})
+WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME: $(yaml-quote ${WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME})
+WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT: $(yaml-quote ${WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT})
 MANIFESTS_DIR: $(yaml-quote ${WINDOWS_MANIFESTS_DIR})
 PKI_DIR: $(yaml-quote ${WINDOWS_PKI_DIR})
 CA_FILE_PATH: $(yaml-quote ${WINDOWS_CA_FILE})
diff --git a/cluster/gce/windows/k8s-node-setup.psm1 b/cluster/gce/windows/k8s-node-setup.psm1
index 336958b9a83..e74bfc48bc3 100644
--- a/cluster/gce/windows/k8s-node-setup.psm1
+++ b/cluster/gce/windows/k8s-node-setup.psm1
@@ -241,6 +241,14 @@ function Set_CurrentShellEnvironmentVar {
 # Sets environment variables used by Kubernetes binaries and by other functions
 # in this module. Depends on numerous ${kube_env} keys.
 function Set-EnvironmentVars {
+  if ($kube_env.ContainsKey('WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME')) {
+      $container_runtime = ${kube_env}['WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME']
+      $container_runtime_endpoint = ${kube_env}['WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT']
+  } else {
+      Log-Output "ERROR: WINDOWS_CONTAINER_RUNTIME not set in kube-env, falling back in CONTAINER_RUNTIME"
+      $container_runtime = ${kube_env}['CONTAINER_RUNTIME']
+      $container_runtime_endpoint = ${kube_env}['CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT']
+  }
   # Turning the kube-env values into environment variables is not required but
   # it makes debugging this script easier, and it also makes the syntax a lot
   # easier (${env:K8S_DIR} can be expanded within a string but
@@ -268,8 +276,8 @@ function Set-EnvironmentVars {
     "KUBELET_CERT_PATH" = ${kube_env}['PKI_DIR'] + '\kubelet.crt'
     "KUBELET_KEY_PATH" = ${kube_env}['PKI_DIR'] + '\kubelet.key'
 
-    "CONTAINER_RUNTIME" = ${kube_env}['CONTAINER_RUNTIME']
-    "CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT" = ${kube_env}['CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT']
+    "CONTAINER_RUNTIME" = $container_runtime
+    "CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT" = $container_runtime_endpoint
 
     'LICENSE_DIR' = 'C:\Program Files\Google\Compute Engine\THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES'
   }