diff --git a/.github/scripts/update_generation_config.sh b/.github/scripts/update_generation_config.sh
index 91434688c..fff56bf5d 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/update_generation_config.sh
+++ b/.github/scripts/update_generation_config.sh
@@ -15,8 +15,15 @@ set -e
 function get_latest_released_version() {
     local group_id=$1
     local artifact_id=$2
-    latest=$(curl -s "https://search.maven.org/solrsearch/select?q=g:${group_id}+AND+a:${artifact_id}&core=gav&rows=500&wt=json" | jq -r '.response.docs[] | select(.v | test("^[0-9]+(\\.[0-9]+)*$")) | .v' | sort -V | tail -n 1)
-    echo "${latest}"
+    json_content=$(curl -s "https://search.maven.org/solrsearch/select?q=g:${group_id}+AND+a:${artifact_id}&core=gav&rows=500&wt=json")
+    latest=$(jq -r '.response.docs[] | select(.v | test("^[0-9]+(\\.[0-9]+)*$")) | .v' <<< "${json_content}" | sort -V | tail -n 1)
+    if [[ -z "${latest}" ]]; then
+        echo "The latest version of ${group_id}:${artifact_id} is empty."
+        echo "The returned json from maven.org is invalid: ${json_content}"
+        exit 1
+    else
+        echo "${latest}"
+    fi
 }
 
 # Update a key to a new value in the generation config.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index 941f2f3b4..b91fa381f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -59,23 +59,15 @@ jobs:
         env:
           JOB_TYPE: test
   windows:
-    # Building using Java 11 and run the tests with Java 8 runtime
     runs-on: windows-latest
     steps:
     - name: Support longpaths
       run: git config --system core.longpaths true
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-    - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
-      with:
-        java-version: 8
-        distribution: temurin
-    - name: "Set jvm system property environment variable for surefire plugin (unit tests)"
-      run: echo "SUREFIRE_JVM_OPT=-Djvm=${JAVA_HOME}\bin\java" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-      shell: bash
     - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
       with:
         distribution: temurin
-        java-version: 11
+        java-version: 8
     - run: java -version
     - run: .kokoro/build.bat
       env:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/update_generation_config.yaml b/.github/workflows/update_generation_config.yaml
index 3cf773992..f7b089f34 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/update_generation_config.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/update_generation_config.yaml
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       with:
+        fetch-depth: 0
         token: ${{ secrets.CLOUD_JAVA_BOT_TOKEN }}
     - name: Update params in generation config to latest
       shell: bash
@@ -36,7 +37,8 @@ jobs:
         [ -z "$(git config user.email)" ] && git config --global user.email "cloud-java-bot@google.com"
         [ -z "$(git config user.name)" ] && git config --global user.name "cloud-java-bot"
         bash .github/scripts/update_generation_config.sh \
-          --base_branch "${base_branch}"\
+          --base_branch "${base_branch}" \
           --repo ${{ github.repository }}
       env:
         GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CLOUD_JAVA_BOT_TOKEN }}
+