diff --git a/windows/GNUfiles.mk b/windows/GNUfiles.mk
index fa7897fb..083d8b36 100644
--- a/windows/GNUfiles.mk
+++ b/windows/GNUfiles.mk
@@ -40,6 +40,9 @@ CFILES += \
 	windows/utilwin.c \
 	windows/window.c
 
+CXXFILES += \
+	windows/drawtext.cpp
+
 HFILES += \
 	windows/area.h \
 	windows/compilerver.h \
diff --git a/windows/draw.c b/windows/draw.c
index 47aeb84b..3b90b56c 100644
--- a/windows/draw.c
+++ b/windows/draw.c
@@ -24,21 +24,6 @@ void uninitDraw(void)
 	ID2D1Factory_Release(d2dfactory);
 }
 
-static IDWriteFactory *dwfactory = NULL;
-
-HRESULT initDrawText(void)
-{
-	// TOOD use DWRITE_FACTORY_TYPE_ISOLATED instead?
-	return DWriteCreateFactory(DWRITE_FACTORY_TYPE_SHARED,
-		&IID_IDWriteFactory,
-		(IUnknown **) (&dwfactory));
-}
-
-void uninitDrawText(void)
-{
-	IDWriteFactory_Release(dwfactory);
-}
-
 ID2D1HwndRenderTarget *makeHWNDRenderTarget(HWND hwnd)
 {
 	D2D1_RENDER_TARGET_PROPERTIES props;
diff --git a/windows/drawtext.cpp b/windows/drawtext.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a5e89b67
--- /dev/null
+++ b/windows/drawtext.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+// 22 december 2015
+// Before we begin, you may be wondering why this file is C++.
+// Simple: <dwrite.h> is C++ only! Thanks Microsoft!
+// And unlike UI Automation which accidentally just forgets the 'struct' and 'enum' tags in places, <dwrite.h> is a full C++ header file, with class definitions and the use of __uuidof. Oh well :/
+#include "uipriv_windows.h"
+
+static IDWriteFactory *dwfactory = NULL;
+
+HRESULT initDrawText(void)
+{
+	// TOOD use DWRITE_FACTORY_TYPE_ISOLATED instead?
+	return DWriteCreateFactory(DWRITE_FACTORY_TYPE_SHARED,
+		__uuidof (IDWriteFactory),
+		(IUnknown **) (&dwfactory));
+}
+
+void uninitDrawText(void)
+{
+	dwfactory->Release();
+}
diff --git a/windows/uipriv_windows.h b/windows/uipriv_windows.h
index 3f88a7f2..33ecb931 100644
--- a/windows/uipriv_windows.h
+++ b/windows/uipriv_windows.h
@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 #include "resources.h"
 #include "compilerver.h"
 
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+extern "C" {
+#endif
+
 // ui internal window messages
 enum {
 	// redirected WM_COMMAND and WM_NOTIFY
@@ -127,8 +131,14 @@ extern int registerAreaFilter(void);
 // draw.c
 extern HRESULT initDraw(void);
 extern void uninitDraw(void);
-extern HRESULT initDrawText(void);
-extern void uninitDrawText(void);
 extern ID2D1HwndRenderTarget *makeHWNDRenderTarget(HWND hwnd);
 extern uiDrawContext *newContext(ID2D1RenderTarget *);
 extern void freeContext(uiDrawContext *);
+
+// drawtext.cpp
+extern HRESULT initDrawText(void);
+extern void uninitDrawText(void);
+
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/windows/winapi.h b/windows/winapi.h
index 487aa158..2346d2bc 100644
--- a/windows/winapi.h
+++ b/windows/winapi.h
@@ -3,9 +3,12 @@
 #define _UNICODE
 #define STRICT
 #define STRICT_TYPED_ITEMIDS
+#ifndef __cplusplus
 #define CINTERFACE
 #define COBJMACROS
+#endif
 // see https://github.com/golang/go/issues/9916#issuecomment-74812211
+// TODO get rid of this
 #define INITGUID
 #define _USE_MATH_DEFINES
 // for the manifest
@@ -16,10 +19,6 @@
 #define _WIN32_WINDOWS 0x0600		/* according to Microsoft's pdh.h */
 #define _WIN32_IE 0x0700			/* according to Microsoft's sdkddkver.h */
 #define NTDDI_VERSION 0x06000000	/* according to Microsoft's sdkddkver.h */
-// TODO cl.exe spews garbage warnings for system headers; figure out which flags cause it
-#ifdef _MSC_VER
-#pragma warning(push, 0)
-#endif
 #include <windows.h>
 // Microsoft's resource compiler will segfault if we feed it headers it was not designed to handle
 #ifndef RC_INVOKED
@@ -38,7 +37,8 @@
 #include <math.h>
 #include <d2d1.h>
 #include <float.h>
+// see drawtext.cpp for details
+#ifdef __cplusplus
+#include <dwrite.h>
 #endif
-#ifdef _MSC_VER
-#pragma warning(pop)
 #endif