diff --git a/.pipelines/.vsts-vhd-builder-release.yaml b/.pipelines/.vsts-vhd-builder-release.yaml
index 3ff9671a1fd..ae7819d6f19 100644
--- a/.pipelines/.vsts-vhd-builder-release.yaml
+++ b/.pipelines/.vsts-vhd-builder-release.yaml
@@ -611,7 +611,10 @@ stages:
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=IMG_VERSION]latest'
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=HYPERV_GENERATION]V2'
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=AZURE_VM_SIZE]Standard_D16ds_v5'
-              echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=FEATURE_FLAGS]None'
+              # NVIDIA_CUDA_PREBAKE bakes the CUDA driver kernel module into this shared x86 gen2 image so GPU
+              # nodes can later skip the ~80-150s in-CSE DKMS compile via the configGPUDrivers skip-build path
+              # (PR #8787); non-GPU and --gpu-driver None nodes tear the module down during provisioning.
+              echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=FEATURE_FLAGS]NVIDIA_CUDA_PREBAKE'
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ARCHITECTURE]X86_64'
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ENABLE_FIPS]False'
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ENABLE_TRUSTED_LAUNCH]False'
@@ -683,7 +686,10 @@ stages:
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=IMG_VERSION]latest'
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=HYPERV_GENERATION]V2'
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=AZURE_VM_SIZE]Standard_D16ds_v5'
-              echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=FEATURE_FLAGS]None'
+              # NVIDIA_CUDA_PREBAKE bakes the CUDA driver kernel module into this shared x86 gen2 image so GPU
+              # nodes can later skip the ~80-150s in-CSE DKMS compile via the configGPUDrivers skip-build path
+              # (PR #8787); non-GPU and --gpu-driver None nodes tear the module down during provisioning.
+              echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=FEATURE_FLAGS]NVIDIA_CUDA_PREBAKE'
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ARCHITECTURE]X86_64'
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ENABLE_FIPS]False'
               echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ENABLE_TRUSTED_LAUNCH]False'
diff --git a/.pipelines/.vsts-vhd-builder.yaml b/.pipelines/.vsts-vhd-builder.yaml
index e556a651b49..e4ecb102a1f 100644
--- a/.pipelines/.vsts-vhd-builder.yaml
+++ b/.pipelines/.vsts-vhd-builder.yaml
@@ -83,7 +83,10 @@ stages:
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=IMG_VERSION]latest'
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=HYPERV_GENERATION]V2'
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=AZURE_VM_SIZE]Standard_D16ds_v5'
-            echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=FEATURE_FLAGS]None'
+            # NVIDIA_CUDA_PREBAKE bakes the CUDA driver kernel module into this shared x86 gen2 image so GPU
+            # nodes can later skip the ~80-150s in-CSE DKMS compile via the configGPUDrivers skip-build path
+            # (PR #8787); non-GPU and --gpu-driver None nodes tear the module down during provisioning.
+            echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=FEATURE_FLAGS]NVIDIA_CUDA_PREBAKE'
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ARCHITECTURE]X86_64'
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ENABLE_FIPS]False'
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ENABLE_TRUSTED_LAUNCH]False'
@@ -104,7 +107,10 @@ stages:
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=IMG_VERSION]latest'
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=HYPERV_GENERATION]V2'
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=AZURE_VM_SIZE]Standard_D16ds_v5'
-            echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=FEATURE_FLAGS]None'
+            # NVIDIA_CUDA_PREBAKE bakes the CUDA driver kernel module into this shared x86 gen2 image so GPU
+            # nodes can later skip the ~80-150s in-CSE DKMS compile via the configGPUDrivers skip-build path
+            # (PR #8787); non-GPU and --gpu-driver None nodes tear the module down during provisioning.
+            echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=FEATURE_FLAGS]NVIDIA_CUDA_PREBAKE'
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ARCHITECTURE]X86_64'
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ENABLE_FIPS]false'
             echo '##vso[task.setvariable variable=ENABLE_TRUSTED_LAUNCH]False'
diff --git a/.pipelines/templates/.builder-release-template.yaml b/.pipelines/templates/.builder-release-template.yaml
index 3f8e59bb583..6c5195359dc 100644
--- a/.pipelines/templates/.builder-release-template.yaml
+++ b/.pipelines/templates/.builder-release-template.yaml
@@ -353,7 +353,7 @@ steps:
       TargetFolder: '$(Build.ArtifactStagingDirectory)'
 
   - task: CopyFiles@2
-    condition: and(eq(variables.OS_SKU, 'Ubuntu'), in(variables.OS_VERSION, '22.04', '24.04'), in(variables.FEATURE_FLAGS, 'None', 'cvm', 'NVIDIA_GB'))
+    condition: and(eq(variables.OS_SKU, 'Ubuntu'), in(variables.OS_VERSION, '22.04', '24.04'), in(variables.FEATURE_FLAGS, 'None', 'cvm', 'NVIDIA_GB', 'NVIDIA_CUDA_PREBAKE'))
     displayName: Copy CIS Reports
     inputs:
       SourceFolder: '$(System.DefaultWorkingDirectory)'