diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/windows-mxc/host-qualification.test.ts b/src/lib/onboard/windows-mxc/host-qualification.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e80fb38289d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/windows-mxc/host-qualification.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import {
+  assessWindowsMxcProcessContainerCandidate,
+  parseWindowsBuild,
+  WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_HOST_CONTRACT_VERSION,
+} from "./host-qualification";
+
+describe("native Windows/MXC process_container host qualification", () => {
+  it("returns a candidate at the exact inactive x64 build floor (#8178)", () => {
+    expect(
+      assessWindowsMxcProcessContainerCandidate({
+        platform: "win32",
+        nativeArchitecture: "x64",
+        release: "10.0.26100",
+      }),
+    ).toEqual({
+      candidate: true,
+      contractVersion: WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_HOST_CONTRACT_VERSION,
+      platform: "win32",
+      nativeArchitecture: "x64",
+      windowsBuild: 26100,
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("accepts a newer Windows revision without treating it as the build (#8178)", () => {
+    expect(
+      assessWindowsMxcProcessContainerCandidate({
+        platform: "win32",
+        nativeArchitecture: "x64",
+        release: "10.0.28000.1836",
+      }),
+    ).toMatchObject({ candidate: true, windowsBuild: 28000 });
+  });
+
+  it("rejects WSL and every other non-Windows host (#8178)", () => {
+    expect(
+      assessWindowsMxcProcessContainerCandidate({
+        platform: "linux",
+        nativeArchitecture: "x64",
+        release: "6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2",
+      }),
+    ).toMatchObject({ candidate: false, reason: "non-windows-host" });
+  });
+
+  it("rejects an emulated x64 process on a native ARM64 host (#8178)", () => {
+    expect(
+      assessWindowsMxcProcessContainerCandidate({
+        platform: "win32",
+        nativeArchitecture: "arm64",
+        release: "10.0.28000",
+      }),
+    ).toMatchObject({ candidate: false, reason: "unqualified-architecture" });
+  });
+
+  it("fails closed below the process_container candidate build floor (#8178)", () => {
+    expect(
+      assessWindowsMxcProcessContainerCandidate({
+        platform: "win32",
+        nativeArchitecture: "x64",
+        release: "10.0.26099",
+      }),
+    ).toMatchObject({
+      candidate: false,
+      reason: "windows-build-below-candidate-floor",
+    });
+  });
+
+  it.each([
+    "",
+    "10",
+    "10.0",
+    "10.0.build",
+    "6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2",
+  ])("fails closed when release %j is not a Windows build form (#8178)", (release) => {
+    expect(
+      assessWindowsMxcProcessContainerCandidate({
+        platform: "win32",
+        nativeArchitecture: "x64",
+        release,
+      }),
+    ).toMatchObject({ candidate: false, reason: "unknown-windows-build" });
+  });
+});
+
+describe("Windows build parsing", () => {
+  it.each([
+    ["10.0.26100", 26100],
+    ["10.0.26300.8553", 26300],
+    [" 10.0.28000.1836 ", 28000],
+  ])("extracts the build from %s (#8178)", (release, expected) => {
+    expect(parseWindowsBuild(release)).toBe(expected);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/windows-mxc/host-qualification.ts b/src/lib/onboard/windows-mxc/host-qualification.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7642b4f4aed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/windows-mxc/host-qualification.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+export const WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_HOST_CONTRACT_VERSION = 1 as const;
+export const WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_MINIMUM_BUILD = 26100 as const;
+
+export interface WindowsMxcHostFacts {
+  readonly platform: NodeJS.Platform;
+  readonly nativeArchitecture: string;
+  readonly release: string;
+}
+
+export type WindowsMxcProcessContainerCandidateResult =
+  | {
+      readonly candidate: true;
+      readonly contractVersion: typeof WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_HOST_CONTRACT_VERSION;
+      readonly platform: "win32";
+      readonly nativeArchitecture: "x64";
+      readonly windowsBuild: number;
+    }
+  | {
+      readonly candidate: false;
+      readonly contractVersion: typeof WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_HOST_CONTRACT_VERSION;
+      readonly reason:
+        | "non-windows-host"
+        | "unqualified-architecture"
+        | "unknown-windows-build"
+        | "windows-build-below-candidate-floor";
+      readonly detail: string;
+    };
+
+/**
+ * Extract the Windows build from the Node.js `os.release()` form
+ * `<major>.<minor>.<build>[.<revision>]`.
+ */
+export function parseWindowsBuild(release: string): number | null {
+  const match = /^\d+\.\d+\.(\d+)(?:\.\d+)?$/.exec(release.trim());
+  if (!match) return null;
+
+  const build = Number(match[1]);
+  return Number.isSafeInteger(build) ? build : null;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Evaluate the inactive native Windows/MXC `process_container` candidate.
+ *
+ * This is a host-facts contract only. A positive result does not select a
+ * runtime provider or establish a supported Windows compatibility matrix.
+ */
+export function assessWindowsMxcProcessContainerCandidate(
+  facts: WindowsMxcHostFacts,
+): WindowsMxcProcessContainerCandidateResult {
+  if (facts.platform !== "win32") {
+    return {
+      candidate: false,
+      contractVersion: WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_HOST_CONTRACT_VERSION,
+      reason: "non-windows-host",
+      detail: "Native Windows/MXC requires a Windows host; WSL is not a native Windows host.",
+    };
+  }
+
+  // `process.arch` identifies the Node.js binary and can report x64 under
+  // Windows ARM64 emulation. The caller must supply the native host value.
+  if (facts.nativeArchitecture !== "x64") {
+    return {
+      candidate: false,
+      contractVersion: WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_HOST_CONTRACT_VERSION,
+      reason: "unqualified-architecture",
+      detail: "The inactive Windows/MXC process_container candidate currently qualifies x64 only.",
+    };
+  }
+
+  const windowsBuild = parseWindowsBuild(facts.release);
+  if (windowsBuild === null) {
+    return {
+      candidate: false,
+      contractVersion: WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_HOST_CONTRACT_VERSION,
+      reason: "unknown-windows-build",
+      detail: "The Windows build could not be determined from the host release.",
+    };
+  }
+
+  if (windowsBuild < WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_MINIMUM_BUILD) {
+    return {
+      candidate: false,
+      contractVersion: WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_HOST_CONTRACT_VERSION,
+      reason: "windows-build-below-candidate-floor",
+      detail: `The Windows/MXC process_container candidate requires Windows build ${WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_MINIMUM_BUILD} or newer.`,
+    };
+  }
+
+  return {
+    candidate: true,
+    contractVersion: WINDOWS_MXC_PROCESS_CONTAINER_HOST_CONTRACT_VERSION,
+    platform: "win32",
+    nativeArchitecture: "x64",
+    windowsBuild,
+  };
+}