Windows Nodes go to not ready due to empty cni config file

Windows Nodes are occasionally failing to reach the ready state due to CNI issues
    

Able to reproduce in AWS
    

    1. SSH onto the Windows Node
    2. In powershell run: rm /k/cni/config/cni.conf; New-Item /k/cni/config/cni.conf -type file
    3. Wait for node to go to not ready
    

Windows Node goes to NotReady, and does not go back to Ready, the following can be seen in the logs:

WMCO log:
2024-01-29T06:09:15Z	DEBUG	wc 10.0.193.178	run	{"cmd": "C:\\k\\windows-instance-config-daemon.exe cleanup --kubeconfig C:\\k\\wicd-kubeconfig --namespace openshift-windows-machine-config-operator", "out": "I0129 06:07:50.347432    4868 cleanup.go:111] error getting services ConfigMap associated with version annotation, falling back to use latest services ConfigMap: node is missing version annotation\nI0129 06:09:15.448458    4868 cleanup.go:159] removed services: [\"kube-proxy\" \"csi-proxy\" \"hybrid-overlay-node\" \"windows_exporter\" \"kubelet\" \"containerd\"]\n"}

kubelet log:
I0129 06:06:16.789966    4484 kubelet.go:2393] "Container runtime status" status="Runtime Conditions: RuntimeReady=true reason: message:, NetworkReady=false reason:NetworkPluginNotReady message:Network plugin returns error: cni plugin not initialized"
E0129 06:06:16.789966    4484 kubelet.go:2396] "Container runtime network not ready" networkReady="NetworkReady=false reason:NetworkPluginNotReady message:Network plugin returns error: cni plugin not initialized"

Node events are generated:
                    {
                        "lastHeartbeatTime": "2024-01-29T06:07:53Z",
                        "lastTransitionTime": "2024-01-29T05:33:40Z",
                        "message": "container runtime network not ready: NetworkReady=false reason:NetworkPluginNotReady message:Network plugin returns error: cni plugin not initialized",
                        "reason": "KubeletNotReady",
                        "status": "False",
                        "type": "Ready"
                    }
    

Windows Node goes to NotReady for less than 5 minutes, before returning to Ready
    

Has only been observed after the merge of https://github.com/openshift/windows-machine-config-operator/pull/1979
Manual workaround:  SSH onto the Windows VM, delete /k/cni/config/cni.conf and wait a few minutes