diff --git a/qgroundcontrol.pro b/qgroundcontrol.pro
index 00af87349ca99f97c543c878922938ae44fdedc9..501c285c9daecd5cd73d644bf3ea98603eef5588 100644
--- a/qgroundcontrol.pro
+++ b/qgroundcontrol.pro
@@ -185,7 +185,8 @@ WindowsBuild {
 	QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_WARN_ON += /W3 \
         /wd4996 \   # silence warnings about deprecated strcpy and whatnot
         /wd4005 \   # silence warnings about macro redefinition
-        /wd4290     # ignore exception specifications
+        /wd4290 \   # ignore exception specifications
+        /Zc:strictStrings-  # work around win 8.1 sdk sapi.h problem
     WarningsAsErrorsOn {
         QMAKE_CXXFLAGS_WARN_ON += /WX
     }