diff --git a/src/engine/check_cxx11.cpp b/src/engine/check_cxx11.cpp
index 7197980a6..085547b26 100644
--- a/src/engine/check_cxx11.cpp
+++ b/src/engine/check_cxx11.cpp
@@ -10,12 +10,22 @@ available. This is used by the build script to guess and check the
 compiler to build the engine with.
 */
 
-// Some headers we depend on..
+// Some headers we test...
 #include <thread>
+#include <memory>
 
 
 int main()
 {
     // Check for basic thread calls.
+    // [2020-08-19] Mingw-w64 with win32 threading model (as opposed to posix
+    // threading model) does not really have std::thread etc. Please see comments
+    // in sysinfo.cpp.
+    #ifndef _WIN32
     { auto _ = std::thread::hardware_concurrency(); }
+    #endif
+
+    // [2021-08-07] We check the following C++11 features: brace initialization,
+    // unique_ptr. Plus the author's ability to memorize some digits.
+    { const std::unique_ptr <float> pf {new float {3.14159f}}; }
 }
diff --git a/src/engine/sysinfo.cpp b/src/engine/sysinfo.cpp
index 4ddd45754..4aa4183da 100644
--- a/src/engine/sysinfo.cpp
+++ b/src/engine/sysinfo.cpp
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 
 #if !defined(OS_NT)
 #include <unistd.h>
+#else
+#include <windows.h>
 #endif
 
 #if defined(OS_LINUX) || defined(__GLIBC__)
@@ -90,7 +92,32 @@ namespace
 
     unsigned int std_thread_hardware_concurrency()
     {
+        // [2020-08-19] Mingw-w64 (e.g. i686-w64-mingw-32-g++ from Cygwin,
+        // g++-mingw-w64-i686-win32) does not have std::thread etc. But we
+        // should still allow building the engine with this (important) toolset:
+        // - It is free, lightweight, standards-conforming.
+        // - It might be the only C++11 toolset for Windows XP.
+        //   (Please see http://www.crouchingtigerhiddenfruitbat.org/Cygwin/timemachine.html !)
+        // - It is powerful enough even without std::thread etc. For example, it
+        //   can build-and-use Boost.Thread.
+        // - The only thing currently used from std::thread is this call to
+        //   hardware_concurrency !
+        #if ! defined (_WIN32)
         return std::thread::hardware_concurrency();
+        #else
+        return 0;
+        #endif
+    }
+
+    unsigned int win32_logicalcpu()
+    {
+        #if defined (_WIN32)
+        SYSTEM_INFO si;
+        GetSystemInfo (&si);
+        return si.dwNumberOfProcessors;
+        #else
+        return 0;
+        #endif
     }
 }
 
@@ -130,6 +157,10 @@ unsigned int b2::system_info::cpu_thread_count()
         cpu_thread_count_ = std_thread_hardware_concurrency();
     }
     if (cpu_thread_count_ == 0)
+    {
+        cpu_thread_count_ = win32_logicalcpu();
+    }
+    if (cpu_thread_count_ == 0)
     {
         cpu_thread_count_ = cpu_core_count();
     }