diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
index cbc7252..f875e85 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -42,7 +42,10 @@ jobs:
           dotnet-version: 8.0.x
 
       - name: Install Android workload
-        run: dotnet workload install android
+        # since windows image 20241113.3.0, not specifying a version here
+        # installs the .NET 7 version of android workload for very unknown reasons.
+        # revisit once we upgrade to .NET 9, it's probably fixed there.
+        run: dotnet workload install android --version (dotnet --version)
 
       - name: Build
         run: dotnet build SDL3-CS.Android.slnf -c Release