diff --git a/.github/workflows/check.yaml b/.github/workflows/check.yaml
index 68120bde6..c6e6ba93b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/check.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/check.yaml
@@ -55,6 +55,10 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
+      - name: 🏷️ Fetch upstream tags for versioning
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          git fetch --force --tags https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv.git
       - name: 🐍 Setup Python for tox
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
         with:
@@ -63,9 +67,9 @@ jobs:
         shell: bash
         run: |
           if [[ "${{ matrix.py }}" == "3.13t" || "${{ matrix.py }}" == "3.14t" ]]; then
-            uv tool install --no-managed-python --python 3.14 tox --with .
+            uv tool install --no-managed-python --python 3.14 "tox>=4.32" --with .
           else
-            uv tool install --no-managed-python --python 3.14 tox --with tox-uv --with .
+            uv tool install --no-managed-python --python 3.14 "tox>=4.32" --with tox-uv --with .
           fi
       - name: 🐍 Setup Python for test ${{ matrix.py }}
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
@@ -109,7 +113,7 @@ jobs:
         run: tox run -vvvv --notest --skip-missing-interpreters false
       - name: 🏃 Run test suite
         run: tox run --skip-pkg-install
-        timeout-minutes: 20
+        timeout-minutes: 30
         env:
           PYTEST_ADDOPTS: "-vv --durations=20"
           CI_RUN: "yes"
@@ -137,11 +141,15 @@ jobs:
       - name: 🚀 Install uv
         uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v4
       - name: 📦 Install tox
-        run: uv tool install --python-preference only-managed --python 3.14 tox --with tox-uv
+        run: uv tool install --python-preference only-managed --python 3.14 "tox>=4.32" --with tox-uv
       - name: 📥 Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
+      - name: 🏷️ Fetch upstream tags for versioning
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          git fetch --force --tags https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv.git
       - name: 🏗️ Setup check suite
         run: tox run -vv --notest --skip-missing-interpreters false -e ${{ matrix.tox_env }}
       - name: 🏃 Run check for ${{ matrix.tox_env }}
diff --git a/src/virtualenv/discovery/cached_py_info.py b/src/virtualenv/discovery/cached_py_info.py
index ee2034615..26e54a8da 100644
--- a/src/virtualenv/discovery/cached_py_info.py
+++ b/src/virtualenv/discovery/cached_py_info.py
@@ -125,6 +125,9 @@ def _run_subprocess(cls, exe, app_data, env):
         # prevent sys.prefix from leaking into the child process - see https://bugs.python.org/issue22490
         env = env.copy()
         env.pop("__PYVENV_LAUNCHER__", None)
+        # Force UTF-8 mode to handle output from Microsoft Store Python stub on Windows
+        # See https://github.com/pypa/virtualenv/issues/2812
+        env["PYTHONUTF8"] = "1"
         LOGGER.debug("get interpreter info via cmd: %s", LogCmd(cmd))
         try:
             process = Popen(
@@ -135,6 +138,7 @@ def _run_subprocess(cls, exe, app_data, env):
                 stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
                 env=env,
                 encoding="utf-8",
+                errors="backslashreplace",
             )
             out, err = process.communicate()
             code = process.returncode