diff --git a/src/msw/stdpaths.cpp b/src/msw/stdpaths.cpp
index 8e03fcf6fe..d3274701d1 100644
--- a/src/msw/stdpaths.cpp
+++ b/src/msw/stdpaths.cpp
@@ -42,8 +42,6 @@
 // types
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-typedef HRESULT (WINAPI *SHGetFolderPath_t)(HWND, int, HANDLE, DWORD, LPTSTR);
-typedef HRESULT (WINAPI *SHGetSpecialFolderPath_t)(HWND, LPTSTR, int, BOOL);
 typedef HRESULT (WINAPI *SHGetKnownFolderPath_t)(const GUID&, DWORD, HANDLE, PWSTR *);
 
 // ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -95,13 +93,10 @@ struct ShellFunctions
 {
     ShellFunctions()
     {
-        pSHGetFolderPath = NULL;
-        pSHGetSpecialFolderPath = NULL;
+        pSHGetKnownFolderPath = NULL;
         initialized = false;
     }
 
-    SHGetFolderPath_t pSHGetFolderPath;
-    SHGetSpecialFolderPath_t pSHGetSpecialFolderPath;
     SHGetKnownFolderPath_t pSHGetKnownFolderPath;
 
     bool initialized;
@@ -134,30 +129,9 @@ void ResolveShellFunctions()
     // with this
     wxLogNull noLog;
 
-#if wxUSE_UNICODE
-    static const wchar_t UNICODE_SUFFIX = L'W';
-#else // !Unicode
-    static const char UNICODE_SUFFIX = 'A';
-#endif // Unicode/!Unicode
-
-    wxString funcname(wxT("SHGetFolderPath"));
-    gs_shellFuncs.pSHGetFolderPath =
-        (SHGetFolderPath_t)dllShellFunctions.GetSymbol(funcname + UNICODE_SUFFIX);
-
-    // then for SHGetSpecialFolderPath (shell32.dll 4.71)
-    if ( !gs_shellFuncs.pSHGetFolderPath )
-    {
-        funcname = wxT("SHGetSpecialFolderPath");
-        gs_shellFuncs.pSHGetSpecialFolderPath = (SHGetSpecialFolderPath_t)
-            dllShellFunctions.GetSymbol(funcname + UNICODE_SUFFIX);
-    }
-
     gs_shellFuncs.pSHGetKnownFolderPath = (SHGetKnownFolderPath_t)
         dllShellFunctions.GetSymbol("SHGetKnownFolderPath");
 
-    // finally we fall back on SHGetSpecialFolderLocation (shell32.dll 4.0),
-    // but we don't need to test for it -- it is available even under Win95
-
     // shell32.dll is going to be unloaded, but it still remains in memory
     // because we also link to it statically, so it's ok
 
@@ -178,74 +152,35 @@ void ResolveShellFunctions()
 /* static */
 wxString wxStandardPaths::DoGetDirectory(int csidl)
 {
-    if ( !gs_shellFuncs.initialized )
-        ResolveShellFunctions();
-
     wxString dir;
     HRESULT hr = E_FAIL;
 
-    // test whether the function is available during compile-time (it must be
-    // defined as either "SHGetFolderPathA" or "SHGetFolderPathW")
-#ifdef SHGetFolderPath
-    // and now test whether we have it during run-time
-    if ( gs_shellFuncs.pSHGetFolderPath )
-    {
-        hr = gs_shellFuncs.pSHGetFolderPath
-             (
-                NULL,               // parent window, not used
-                csidl,
-                NULL,               // access token (current user)
-                SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, // current path, not just default value
-                wxStringBuffer(dir, MAX_PATH)
-             );
+    hr = ::SHGetFolderPath
+            (
+            NULL,               // parent window, not used
+            csidl,
+            NULL,               // access token (current user)
+            SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, // current path, not just default value
+            wxStringBuffer(dir, MAX_PATH)
+            );
 
-        // somewhat incredibly, the error code in the Unicode version is
-        // different from the one in ASCII version for this function
+    // somewhat incredibly, the error code in the Unicode version is
+    // different from the one in ASCII version for this function
 #if wxUSE_UNICODE
-        if ( hr == E_FAIL )
+    if ( hr == E_FAIL )
 #else
-        if ( hr == S_FALSE )
+    if ( hr == S_FALSE )
 #endif
-        {
-            // directory doesn't exist, maybe we can get its default value?
-            hr = gs_shellFuncs.pSHGetFolderPath
-                 (
-                    NULL,
-                    csidl,
-                    NULL,
-                    SHGFP_TYPE_DEFAULT,
-                    wxStringBuffer(dir, MAX_PATH)
-                 );
-        }
-    }
-#endif // SHGetFolderPath
-
-#ifdef SHGetSpecialFolderPath
-    if ( FAILED(hr) && gs_shellFuncs.pSHGetSpecialFolderPath )
     {
-        hr = gs_shellFuncs.pSHGetSpecialFolderPath
-             (
-                NULL,               // parent window
-                wxStringBuffer(dir, MAX_PATH),
+        // directory doesn't exist, maybe we can get its default value?
+        hr = ::SHGetFolderPath
+                (
+                NULL,
                 csidl,
-                FALSE               // don't create if doesn't exist
-             );
-    }
-#endif // SHGetSpecialFolderPath
-
-    // SHGetSpecialFolderLocation should be available with all compilers and
-    // under all Win32 systems, so don't test for it (and as it doesn't exist
-    // in "A" and "W" versions anyhow, testing would be more involved, too)
-    if ( FAILED(hr) )
-    {
-        LPITEMIDLIST pidl;
-        hr = SHGetSpecialFolderLocation(NULL, csidl, &pidl);
-
-        if ( SUCCEEDED(hr) )
-        {
-            // creating this temp object has (nice) side effect of freeing pidl
-            dir = wxItemIdList(pidl).GetPath();
-        }
+                NULL,
+                SHGFP_TYPE_DEFAULT,
+                wxStringBuffer(dir, MAX_PATH)
+                );
     }
 
     return dir;