diff --git a/.github/docs-versions.yml b/.github/docs-versions.yml
index 0091b53d60..264024d9a3 100644
--- a/.github/docs-versions.yml
+++ b/.github/docs-versions.yml
@@ -8,16 +8,16 @@
 # To add a new release version: append an entry under `versions:`, and update
 # `default:` / `stable:` if the new release should become the landing page.
 
-default: "1.0.0"  # served at the site root (microsoft.github.io/PyRIT/)
-stable: "1.0.0"   # served at /stable/ and shown as "(stable)" in the picker
+default: "1.0.1"  # served at the site root (microsoft.github.io/PyRIT/)
+stable: "1.0.1"   # served at /stable/ and shown as "(stable)" in the picker
 
 versions:
   - slug: latest
     name: "latest (dev, main)"
     ref: main
-  - slug: "1.0.0"
-    name: "1.0.0"
-    ref: releases/v1.0.0
+  - slug: "1.0.1"
+    name: "1.0.1"
+    ref: releases/v1.0.1
   - slug: "0.14.0"
     name: "0.14.0"
     ref: releases/v0.14.0
diff --git a/build_scripts/prepare_package.py b/build_scripts/prepare_package.py
index 4be8b5e38c..83f81ee83b 100644
--- a/build_scripts/prepare_package.py
+++ b/build_scripts/prepare_package.py
@@ -6,12 +6,30 @@
 This builds the TypeScript/React frontend and copies artifacts into the Python package structure.
 """
 
+import contextlib
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sys
 from pathlib import Path
 
 
+def _configure_utf8_stdio() -> None:
+    """
+    Force UTF-8 encoding on stdout/stderr so status glyphs cannot abort the build.
+
+    On Windows, Python encodes standard output with the legacy ANSI code page (e.g. cp1252)
+    whenever it is not attached to a console -- piped, redirected, or captured by CI. The
+    non-ASCII status characters printed below are not representable there, so the print
+    raises ``UnicodeEncodeError`` and a purely decorative character fails the build.
+    """
+    for stream in (sys.stdout, sys.stderr):
+        reconfigure = getattr(stream, "reconfigure", None)
+        if reconfigure is None:
+            continue
+        with contextlib.suppress(OSError, ValueError):
+            reconfigure(encoding="utf-8", errors="replace")
+
+
 def build_frontend(frontend_dir: Path) -> bool:
     """
     Build the TypeScript/React frontend using npm.
@@ -116,8 +134,10 @@ def copy_frontend_to_package(frontend_dist: Path, backend_frontend: Path) -> boo
     return False
 
 
-def main():
+def main() -> int:
     """Build frontend and prepare package for distribution."""
+    _configure_utf8_stdio()
+
     # Define paths
     root = Path(__file__).parent.parent
     frontend_dir = root / "frontend"