diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 49a50889e1..4e8e84ba5f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 /GIT-BUILD-OPTIONS
 /GIT-CFLAGS
 /GIT-LDFLAGS
+/GIT-MSVC-GEN
 /GIT-PREFIX
 /GIT-PERL-DEFINES
 /GIT-PERL-HEADER
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 3d0b1ce5dd..e653f36eda 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -2955,6 +2955,7 @@ ifdef MSVC
 	$(RM) $(patsubst %.exe,%.pdb,$(OTHER_PROGRAMS))
 	$(RM) $(patsubst %.exe,%.pdb,$(PROGRAMS))
 	$(RM) $(patsubst %.exe,%.pdb,$(TEST_PROGRAMS))
+	$(RM) GIT-MSVC-GEN
 endif
 
 .PHONY: all install profile-clean clean strip
diff --git a/compat/vcbuild/find_vs_env.bat b/compat/vcbuild/find_vs_env.bat
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7a736eb371
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compat/vcbuild/find_vs_env.bat
@@ -0,0 +1,167 @@
+@ECHO OFF
+REM ================================================================
+REM You can use either GCC (the default) or MSVC to build git
+REM using the GIT-SDK command line tools.
+REM        $ make
+REM        $ make MSVC=1
+REM
+REM GIT-SDK BASH windows inherit environment variables with all of
+REM the bin/lib/include paths for GCC.  It DOES NOT inherit values
+REM for the corresponding MSVC tools.
+REM
+REM During normal (non-git) Windows development, you launch one
+REM of the provided "developer command prompts" to set environment
+REM variables for the MSVC tools.
+REM
+REM Therefore, to allow MSVC command line builds of git from BASH
+REM and MAKE, we must blend these two different worlds.  This script
+REM attempts to do that.
+REM ================================================================
+REM This BAT file starts in a plain (non-developer) command prompt,
+REM searches for the "best" commmand prompt setup script, installs
+REM it into the current CMD process, and exports the various MSVC
+REM environment variables for use by MAKE.
+REM
+REM The output of this script should be written to a make "include
+REM file" and referenced by the top-level Makefile.
+REM
+REM See "config.mak.uname" (look for GIT-MSVC-GEN).
+REM ================================================================
+REM The provided command prompts are custom to each VS release and
+REM filled with lots of internal knowledge (such as Registry settings);
+REM even their names vary by release, so it is not appropriate for us
+REM to look inside them.  Rather, just run them in a subordinate
+REM process and extract the settings we need.
+REM ================================================================
+REM
+REM Current (VS2017 and beyond)
+REM -------------------
+REM Visual Studio 2017 introduced a new installation layout and
+REM support for side-by-side installation of multiple versions of
+REM VS2017.  Furthermore, these can all coexist with installations
+REM of previous versions of VS (which have a completely different
+REM layout on disk).
+REM
+REM VS2017 Update 2 introduced a "vswhere.exe" command:
+REM https://github.com/Microsoft/vswhere
+REM https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/heaths/2017/02/25/vswhere-available/
+REM https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2017/03/06/finding-the-visual-c-compiler-tools-in-visual-studio-2017/
+REM
+REM VS2015
+REM ------
+REM Visual Studio 2015 uses the traditional VcVarsAll.
+REM
+REM Earlier Versions
+REM ----------------
+REM TODO
+REM
+REM ================================================================
+REM Note: Throughout this script we use "dir <path> && <cmd>" rather
+REM than "if exist <path>" because of script problems with pathnames
+REM containing spaces.
+REM ================================================================
+
+REM Sanitize PATH to prevent git-sdk paths from confusing "wmic.exe"
+REM (called internally in some of the system BAT files).
+SET PATH=%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem;
+
+REM ================================================================
+
+:current
+   SET vs_where=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe
+   dir "%vs_where%" >nul 2>nul && GOTO have_vs_where
+   GOTO not_2017
+
+:have_vs_where
+   REM Try to use VsWhere to get the location of VsDevCmd.
+
+   REM Keep VsDevCmd from cd'ing away.
+   SET VSCMD_START_DIR=.
+
+   REM Get the root of the VS product installation.
+   FOR /F "usebackq tokens=*" %%i IN (`"%vs_where%" -latest -requires Microsoft.VisualStudio.Workload.NativeDesktop -property installationPath`) DO @SET vs_ip=%%i
+
+   SET vs_devcmd=%vs_ip%\Common7\Tools\VsDevCmd.bat
+   dir "%vs_devcmd%" >nul 2>nul && GOTO have_vs_devcmd
+   GOTO not_2017
+
+:have_vs_devcmd
+   REM Use VsDevCmd to setup the environment of this process.
+   REM Setup CL for building 64-bit apps using 64-bit tools.
+   @call "%vs_devcmd%" -no_logo -arch=x64 -host_arch=x64
+
+   SET tgt=%VSCMD_ARG_TGT_ARCH%
+
+   SET mn=%VCToolsInstallDir%
+   SET msvc_includes=-I"%mn%INCLUDE"
+   SET msvc_libs=-L"%mn%lib\%tgt%"
+   SET msvc_bin_dir=%mn%bin\Host%VSCMD_ARG_HOST_ARCH%\%tgt%
+
+   SET sdk_dir=%WindowsSdkDir%
+   SET sdk_ver=%WindowsSDKVersion%
+   SET si=%sdk_dir%Include\%sdk_ver%
+   SET sdk_includes=-I"%si%ucrt" -I"%si%um" -I"%si%shared"
+   SET sl=%sdk_dir%lib\%sdk_ver%
+   SET sdk_libs=-L"%sl%ucrt\%tgt%" -L"%sl%um\%tgt%"
+
+   SET vs_ver=%VisualStudioVersion%
+
+   GOTO print_vars
+
+REM ================================================================
+
+:not_2017
+   REM See if VS2015 is installed.
+
+   SET vs_2015_bat=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat
+   dir "%vs_2015_bat%" >nul 2>nul && GOTO have_vs_2015
+   GOTO not_2015
+
+:have_vs_2015
+   REM Use VcVarsAll like the "x64 Native" command prompt.
+   REM Setup CL for building 64-bit apps using 64-bit tools.
+   @call "%vs_2015_bat%" amd64
+
+   REM Note that in VS2015 they use "x64" in some contexts and "amd64" in others.
+   SET mn=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\
+   SET msvc_includes=-I"%mn%INCLUDE"
+   SET msvc_libs=-L"%mn%lib\amd64"
+   SET msvc_bin_dir=%mn%bin\amd64
+
+   SET sdk_dir=%WindowsSdkDir%
+   SET sdk_ver=%WindowsSDKVersion%
+   SET si=%sdk_dir%Include\%sdk_ver%
+   SET sdk_includes=-I"%si%ucrt" -I"%si%um" -I"%si%shared" -I"%si%winrt"
+   SET sl=%sdk_dir%lib\%sdk_ver%
+   SET sdk_libs=-L"%sl%ucrt\x64" -L"%sl%um\x64"
+
+   SET vs_ver=%VisualStudioVersion%
+
+   GOTO print_vars
+
+REM ================================================================
+
+:not_2015
+   REM TODO....
+   echo TODO support older versions of VS. >&2
+   EXIT /B 1
+
+REM ================================================================
+
+:print_vars
+   REM Dump the essential vars to stdout to allow the main
+   REM Makefile to include it.  See config.mak.uname.
+   REM Include DOS-style and BASH-style path for bin dir.
+
+   echo msvc_bin_dir=%msvc_bin_dir%
+   echo msvc_bin_dir_msys=%msvc_bin_dir:C:=/C%
+
+   echo msvc_includes=%msvc_includes%
+   echo msvc_libs=%msvc_libs%
+
+   echo sdk_includes=%sdk_includes%
+   echo sdk_libs=%sdk_libs%
+
+   echo vs_ver=%vs_ver%
+
+   EXIT /B 0
diff --git a/config.mak.uname b/config.mak.uname
index 5d64a03d9f..0be4bc7880 100644
--- a/config.mak.uname
+++ b/config.mak.uname
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@ ifdef MSVC
 	# avoid the MingW and Cygwin configuration sections
 	uname_S := Windows
 	uname_O := Windows
+
+	# Generate and include makefile variables that point to the
+	# currently installed set of MSVC command line tools.
+GIT-MSVC-GEN: ./compat/vcbuild/find_vs_env.bat
+	@./compat/vcbuild/find_vs_env.bat | sed 's|\\|/|g' >GIT-MSVC-GEN
+-include GIT-MSVC-GEN
 endif
 
 # We choose to avoid "if .. else if .. else .. endif endif"
@@ -349,7 +355,7 @@ ifeq ($(uname_S),Windows)
 	# link.exe next to, and required by, cl.exe, we have to prepend this
 	# onto the existing $PATH.
 	#
-	SANE_TOOL_PATH ?= /c/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC/bin/amd64
+	SANE_TOOL_PATH ?= $(msvc_bin_dir_msys)
 	HAVE_ALLOCA_H = YesPlease
 	NO_PREAD = YesPlease
 	NEEDS_CRYPTO_WITH_SSL = YesPlease
@@ -409,26 +415,12 @@ ifeq ($(uname_S),Windows)
 	lib =
 	# Path to the unpacked third-party libraries
 	MSVC_DEPS = compat/vcbuild/GEN.DEPS
-	# Compensate for lack of %VCINSTALLDIR%, %LIB%, %LIBPATH%, and etc.
-	# since vcvars*.bat did not get a chance to setup the environment of
-	# the user's shell window.
-	#
-	# TODO If we ask the user to launch a "x64 Native" command prompt
-	# TODO and then have it start a git-bash window, these could be
-	# TODO inherited.  So we wouldn't need to add these lines here.
-	#
-	MSVC_SDK81 = "c:/Program Files (x86)/Windows Kits/8.1"
-	MSVC_SDK10 = "c:/Program Files (x86)/Windows Kits/10"
-	MSVC_VCDIR = "c:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC"
 	BASIC_CFLAGS += \
 		     -I$(MSVC_DEPS)/include -I$(MSVC_DEPS)/include/expat -I$(MSVC_DEPS)/include/zlib \
 		     -L$(MSVC_DEPS)/lib \
-		     -I$(MSVC_SDK81)/Include/um -I$(MSVC_SDK81)/Include/shared \
-		     -L$(MSVC_SDK81)/lib/winv6.3/um/x64 \
-		     -I$(MSVC_SDK10)/Include/10.0.10240.0/ucrt \
-		     -L$(MSVC_SDK10)/lib/10.0.10240.0/ucrt/x64 \
-		     -I$(MSVC_VCDIR)/INCLUDE \
-		     -L$(MSVC_VCDIR)/lib/amd64
+		     $(sdk_includes) $(sdk_libs) \
+		     $(msvc_includes) $(msvc_libs)
+
 	# Optionally enable memory leak reporting.
 	# BASIC_CLFAGS += -DUSE_MSVC_CRTDBG
 	BASIC_CFLAGS += -DPROTECT_NTFS_DEFAULT=1