diff --git a/docker/windows/install_gst.ps1 b/docker/windows/install_gst.ps1
index f0002590f0..6105f3623b 100644
--- a/docker/windows/install_gst.ps1
+++ b/docker/windows/install_gst.ps1
@@ -1,10 +1,5 @@
 [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12;
 
-# FIXME: Python fails to validate github.com SSL certificate, unless we first
-# run a dummy download to force refreshing Windows' CA database.
-# See: https://bugs.python.org/issue36137
-(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString("https://github.com") >$null
-
 # Download gst-build and all its subprojects
 # git clone -b $env:DEFAULT_BRANCH https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/gst-build.git C:\gst-build
 # FIXME: need 1.19+ for cairo subproject :/
diff --git a/docker/windows/prepare_gst_env.ps1 b/docker/windows/prepare_gst_env.ps1
index ebde9f6271..652fe2b4f7 100644
--- a/docker/windows/prepare_gst_env.ps1
+++ b/docker/windows/prepare_gst_env.ps1
@@ -1,10 +1,5 @@
 [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12;
 
-# FIXME: Python fails to validate github.com SSL certificate, unless we first
-# run a dummy download to force refreshing Windows' CA database.
-# See: https://bugs.python.org/issue36137
-(New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString("https://github.com") >$null
-
 # Download gst-build and all its subprojects
 git clone -b $env:DEFAULT_BRANCH https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/gstreamer/gst-build.git C:\gst-build
 if (!$?) {
diff --git a/gitlab/ci_template.yml b/gitlab/ci_template.yml
index 4e5c808f26..ac0e28717d 100644
--- a/gitlab/ci_template.yml
+++ b/gitlab/ci_template.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ variables:
   MANIFEST_TAG: '2020-10-22.0'
   TEST_MANIFEST_TAG: '2020-10-22.0'
   INDENT_TAG: '2020-10-22.0'
-  WINDOWS_TAG: "2021-09-08.0"
+  WINDOWS_TAG: "2021-09-09.0"
 
   GST_UPSTREAM_REPO: 'gstreamer/gst-ci'