diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index fa29f1d1..e29cd74a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,6 +15,13 @@ if(${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE} STREQUAL "Debug")
 elseif(${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE} STREQUAL "Release")
 	set(_SHARED TRUE)
 endif()
+
+# and we need to set this up prior to project() too
+set(CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET "10.8")
+
+project(libui)
+
+# TODO can this be above the project()?
 if(WIN32)
 	if(NOT MSVC)
 		if(_SHARED)
@@ -24,12 +31,6 @@ if(WIN32)
 	endif()
 endif()
 
-
-# and we need to set this up prior to project() too
-set(CMAKE_OSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET "10.8")
-
-project(libui)
-
 set(CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/out")
 set(CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/out")
 set(CMAKE_ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/out")
@@ -77,6 +78,8 @@ elseif(WIN32)
 	set(_PLATFORM_LIBS
 		user32 kernel32 usp10 gdi32 comctl32 uxtheme msimg32 comdlg32 d2d1 dwrite ole32 oleaut32 oleacc uuid
 	)
+
+	set(_RESOURCES_RC resources.rc)
 else()
 	set(_OSDIR unix)
 	set(_SETVERSION TRUE)
@@ -112,8 +115,13 @@ else()
 		append(CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_RELEASE " -fPIC")
 	endif()
 
-	append(_LIBUI_CFLAGS
-		" -D_UI_EXTERN='__attribute__((visibility(\"default\"))) extern' -fvisibility=hidden ${_PLATFORM_CFLAGS}")
+	if(WIN32)
+		append(_LIBUI_CFLAGS
+			" -D _UI_EXTERN=\"__declspec(dllexport) extern\" ${_PLATFORM_CFLAGS}")
+	else()
+		append(_LIBUI_CFLAGS
+			" -D_UI_EXTERN='__attribute__((visibility(\"default\"))) extern' -fvisibility=hidden ${_PLATFORM_CFLAGS}")
+	endif()
 
 	append(CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS " -fvisibility=hidden")
 	# don't amend CMAKE_STATIC_LINKER_FLAGS; that's for ar
@@ -143,7 +151,8 @@ set_target_properties(libui PROPERTIES
 macro(_add_exec _name)
 	add_executable(${_name}
 		WIN32 EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL
-		${ARGN})
+		${ARGN}
+		${_RESOURCES_RC})
 	target_link_libraries(${_name} libui)
 	if(NOT _SHARED)
 		target_link_libraries(${_name} ${_PLATFORM_LIBS})
@@ -155,4 +164,8 @@ set_target_properties(tester PROPERTIES
 	OUTPUT_NAME test
 	WIN32_EXECUTABLE FALSE)
 
+# the same resources.rc is shared by all the examples
+if(_RESOURCES_RC)
+	set(_RESOURCES_RC "../${_RESOURCES_RC}")
+endif()
 add_subdirectory("examples")
diff --git a/windows/CMakeLists.txt b/windows/CMakeLists.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3ddae42a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/windows/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# 1 june 2016
+
+include_directories(.. . ../common)
+
+add_library(libui-windows OBJECT
+	alloc.cpp
+	area.cpp
+	areadraw.cpp
+	areaevents.cpp
+	areascroll.cpp
+	areautil.cpp
+	box.cpp
+	button.cpp
+	checkbox.cpp
+	colorbutton.cpp
+	colordialog.cpp
+	combobox.cpp
+	container.cpp
+	control.cpp
+	d2dscratch.cpp
+	datetimepicker.cpp
+	debug.cpp
+	draw.cpp
+	drawmatrix.cpp
+	drawpath.cpp
+	drawtext.cpp
+	dwrite.cpp
+	editablecombo.cpp
+	entry.cpp
+	events.cpp
+	fontbutton.cpp
+	fontdialog.cpp
+	graphemes.cpp
+	group.cpp
+	init.cpp
+	label.cpp
+	main.cpp
+	menu.cpp
+	multilineentry.cpp
+	parent.cpp
+	progressbar.cpp
+	radiobuttons.cpp
+	separator.cpp
+	sizing.cpp
+	slider.cpp
+	spinbox.cpp
+	stddialogs.cpp
+	tab.cpp
+	tabpage.cpp
+	text.cpp
+	utf16.cpp
+	utilwin.cpp
+	window.cpp
+	winpublic.cpp
+	winutil.cpp
+	resources.rc
+)
+set_target_properties(libui-windows PROPERTIES
+	COMPILE_FLAGS "${_LIBUI_CFLAGS}"
+)
+
+macro(_add_static _name)
+	add_library(${_name} STATIC "${ARGN}")
+endmacro()
diff --git a/windows/compilerver.hpp b/windows/compilerver.hpp
index 535b5138..6c9e6b81 100644
--- a/windows/compilerver.hpp
+++ b/windows/compilerver.hpp
@@ -8,9 +8,6 @@
 #endif
 #endif
 
-// MinGW
-#ifdef __MINGW32__
-#error At present, MinGW is not supported; see README.md for details.
-#endif
+// LONGTERM MinGW
 
 // other compilers can be added here as necessary
diff --git a/windows/drawtext.cpp b/windows/drawtext.cpp
index f5e872b7..08855e4e 100644
--- a/windows/drawtext.cpp
+++ b/windows/drawtext.cpp
@@ -79,6 +79,8 @@ uiDrawTextFont *mkTextFont(IDWriteFont *df, BOOL addRef, WCHAR *family, BOOL cop
 
 // TODO consider moving these all to dwrite.cpp
 
+// TODO MinGW-w64 is missing this one
+#define DWRITE_FONT_WEIGHT_SEMI_LIGHT (DWRITE_FONT_WEIGHT(350))
 static const struct {
 	bool lastOne;
 	uiDrawTextWeight uival;
diff --git a/windows/events.cpp b/windows/events.cpp
index a6da31a8..45e8d43d 100644
--- a/windows/events.cpp
+++ b/windows/events.cpp
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ struct handler {
 	uiControl *c;
 
 	// just to ensure handlers[new HWND] initializes properly
-	struct handler()
+	// TODO gcc can't handle a struct keyword here? or is that a MSVC extension?
+	handler()
 	{
 		this->commandHandler = NULL;
 		this->notifyHandler = NULL;
diff --git a/windows/uipriv_windows.hpp b/windows/uipriv_windows.hpp
index 3e6a74c1..1a00bada 100644
--- a/windows/uipriv_windows.hpp
+++ b/windows/uipriv_windows.hpp
@@ -50,9 +50,17 @@ extern WCHAR *itoutf16(intmax_t i);
 #define _wsn(m) _ws2n(m)
 #define debugargs const WCHAR *file, const WCHAR *line, const WCHAR *func
 extern HRESULT _logLastError(debugargs, const WCHAR *s);
+#ifdef _MSC_VER
 #define logLastError(s) _logLastError(_ws(__FILE__), _wsn(__LINE__), _ws(__FUNCTION__), s)
+#else
+#define logLastError(s) _logLastError(_ws(__FILE__), _wsn(__LINE__), L"TODO none of the function name macros are macros in MinGW", s)
+#endif
 extern HRESULT _logHRESULT(debugargs, const WCHAR *s, HRESULT hr);
+#ifdef _MSC_VER
 #define logHRESULT(s, hr) _logHRESULT(_ws(__FILE__), _wsn(__LINE__), _ws(__FUNCTION__), s, hr)
+#else
+#define logHRESULT(s, hr) _logHRESULT(_ws(__FILE__), _wsn(__LINE__), L"TODO none of the function name macros are macros in MinGW", s, hr)
+#endif
 
 // winutil.cpp
 extern int windowClassOf(HWND hwnd, ...);