diff --git a/include/boost/program_options/detail/convert.hpp b/include/boost/program_options/detail/convert.hpp
index 206f701..49a0f1e 100644
--- a/include/boost/program_options/detail/convert.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/program_options/detail/convert.hpp
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@
 
 #include <boost/program_options/config.hpp>
 
+#if !defined(BOOST_NO_STD_WSTRING)
+
 #include <boost/detail/workaround.hpp>
 
 #include <string>
@@ -84,4 +86,22 @@ namespace boost {
   
 }
 
+#else
+#include <vector>
+#include <string>
+namespace boost{
+   namespace program_options{
+        BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_DECL std::string to_internal(const std::string&);
+
+        template<class T>
+        std::vector<std::string> to_internal(const std::vector<T>& s)
+        {
+            std::vector<std::string> result;
+            for (unsigned i = 0; i < s.size(); ++i)
+                result.push_back(to_internal(s[i]));            
+            return result;
+        }
+   }
+}
+#endif
 #endif
diff --git a/include/boost/program_options/detail/value_semantic.hpp b/include/boost/program_options/detail/value_semantic.hpp
index a51bfd0..e4c5845 100644
--- a/include/boost/program_options/detail/value_semantic.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/program_options/detail/value_semantic.hpp
@@ -90,11 +90,12 @@ namespace boost { namespace program_options {
                        bool*,
                        int);
 
+#if !defined(BOOST_NO_STD_WSTRING)
     BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_DECL void validate(boost::any& v, 
                        const std::vector<std::wstring>& xs, 
                        bool*,
                        int);
-
+#endif
     // For some reason, this declaration, which is require by the standard,
     // cause gcc 3.2 to not generate code to specialization defined in
     // value_semantic.cpp
@@ -107,10 +108,12 @@ namespace boost { namespace program_options {
                        std::string*,
                        int);
 
+#if !defined(BOOST_NO_STD_WSTRING)
     BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_DECL void validate(boost::any& v, 
                        const std::vector<std::wstring>& xs,
                        std::string*,
                        int);
+#endif
 #endif
 
     /** Validates sequences. Allows multiple values per option occurence
diff --git a/include/boost/program_options/value_semantic.hpp b/include/boost/program_options/value_semantic.hpp
index efb8561..f0e4871 100644
--- a/include/boost/program_options/value_semantic.hpp
+++ b/include/boost/program_options/value_semantic.hpp
@@ -100,11 +100,12 @@ namespace boost { namespace program_options {
                    const std::vector<std::string>& new_tokens,
                    bool utf8) const;
     protected: // interface for derived classes.
+#if !defined(BOOST_NO_STD_WSTRING)
         virtual void xparse(boost::any& value_store, 
                             const std::vector<std::wstring>& new_tokens) 
             const = 0;
+#endif
     };
-
     /** Class which specify handling of value for which user did not specified
         anything. */    
     class BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_DECL 
diff --git a/src/value_semantic.cpp b/src/value_semantic.cpp
index aaaff3a..ec9f1bf 100644
--- a/src/value_semantic.cpp
+++ b/src/value_semantic.cpp
@@ -123,6 +123,7 @@ namespace boost { namespace program_options {
     // since wstring can't be constructed/compared with char*. We'd need to
     // create auxilliary 'widen' routine to convert from char* into 
     // needed string type, and that's more work.
+#if !defined(BOOST_NO_STD_WSTRING)
     BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_DECL 
     void validate(any& v, const vector<wstring>& xs, bool*, int)
     {
@@ -139,7 +140,7 @@ namespace boost { namespace program_options {
         else
             throw validation_error("invalid bool value");
     }
-
+#endif
     BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_DECL 
     void validate(any& v, const vector<string>& xs, std::string*, int)
     {
@@ -152,6 +153,7 @@ namespace boost { namespace program_options {
             v = any(s);
     }
 
+#if !defined(BOOST_NO_STD_WSTRING)
     BOOST_PROGRAM_OPTIONS_DECL 
     void validate(any& v, const vector<wstring>& xs, std::string*, int)
     {
@@ -163,7 +165,7 @@ namespace boost { namespace program_options {
         else
             v = any(s);
     }
-
+#endif
 
     namespace validators {