Why does Windows node addition fail with the error "error waiting for proper windowsmachineconfig.openshift.io/version annotation for node XXX" in Red Hat Openshift Container Platform?

Issue

• Why does a Windows node addition fail with the error "error waiting for proper windowsmachineconfig.openshift.io/version annotation for node XXX" in Red Hat Openshift Container Platform?

• Node remains in NotReady state:

  worker1.example.com NotReady,SchedulingDisabled  worker         1h   v1.29.14+7cf4c05
  

• Windows Machine Config operator log has the following error:

  {"level":"error","ts":"2025-06-28T12:44:34Z","msg":"Reconciler error","controller":"configmap","controllerGroup":"","controllerKind":"ConfigMap","ConfigMap":{"name":"windows-instances","namespace":"openshift-windows-machine-config-operator"},"namespace":"openshift-windows-machine-config-operator","name":"windows-instances","reconcileID":"f3c7af20-3717-4c81-a4a5-5dccaa54e30d","error":"error configuring host with address 192.168.122.10: error waiting for proper windowsmachineconfig.openshift.io/version annotation for node worker1.example.com: timeout waiting for windowsmachineconfig.openshift.io/version and windowsmachineconfig.openshift.io/desired-version annotations to match on node worker1.example.com: timed out waiting for the condition","stacktrace":"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/internal/controller.(*Controller).reconcileHandler\n\t/build/windows-machine-config-operator/vendor/sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/internal/controller/controller.go:329\nsigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/internal/controller.(*Controller).processNextWorkItem\n\t/build/windows-machine-config-operator/vendor/sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/internal/controller/controller.go:266\nsigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/internal/controller.(*Controller).Start.func2.2\n\t/build/windows-machine-config-operator/vendor/sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/internal/controller/controller.go:227"}
  {"level":"info","ts":"2025-06-28T12:44:34Z","logger":"controllers.configmap","msg":"processing","instances in":"windows-instances"}