diff --git a/historic/jam/src/execnt.c b/historic/jam/src/execnt.c
index 457cc39c6..0914ae53b 100644
--- a/historic/jam/src/execnt.c
+++ b/historic/jam/src/execnt.c
@@ -674,6 +674,13 @@ execcmd(
     }
 
     /* the rest is for Windows NT only */
+    /* spawn doesn't like quotes aroudn the command name */
+    if ( argv[0][0] == '"')
+    {
+        int l = strlen(argv[0]);
+        if (argv[0][l-1] == '"') argv[0][l-1] = '\0';
+        strcpy(argv[0],argv[0]+1);
+    }
     if( ( pid = spawnvp( P_NOWAIT, argv[0], argv ) ) == -1 )
     {
         perror( "spawn" );
diff --git a/jam_src/execnt.c b/jam_src/execnt.c
index 457cc39c6..0914ae53b 100644
--- a/jam_src/execnt.c
+++ b/jam_src/execnt.c
@@ -674,6 +674,13 @@ execcmd(
     }
 
     /* the rest is for Windows NT only */
+    /* spawn doesn't like quotes aroudn the command name */
+    if ( argv[0][0] == '"')
+    {
+        int l = strlen(argv[0]);
+        if (argv[0][l-1] == '"') argv[0][l-1] = '\0';
+        strcpy(argv[0],argv[0]+1);
+    }
     if( ( pid = spawnvp( P_NOWAIT, argv[0], argv ) ) == -1 )
     {
         perror( "spawn" );