diff --git a/src/common/zstream.cpp b/src/common/zstream.cpp
index 7ca4e3bac4..c4593c293f 100644
--- a/src/common/zstream.cpp
+++ b/src/common/zstream.cpp
@@ -27,14 +27,14 @@
 #include "wx/intl.h"
 #include "wx/log.h"
 
-// When using configure, the path must be "zlib.h" I don't know
-// what other ports (wxMac, wxMotif without configure) need here.
-// If we are building with configure (defines __WX_SETUP_H__), 
-// we trust the zlib path is given as a -I option.
-#if defined(__WXMSW__) && !defined(__WX_SETUP_H__)
+// normally, the compiler options should contain -I../zlib, but it is
+// apparently not the case for all MSW makefiles and so, unless we use
+// configure (which defines __WX_SETUP_H__) or it is explicitly overridden by
+// the user (who can define wxUSE_ZLIB_H_IN_PATH), we hardcode the path here
+#if defined(__WXMSW__) && !defined(__WX_SETUP_H__) && !defined(wxUSE_ZLIB_H_IN_PATH)
    #include "../zlib/zlib.h"
 #else
-   #include "zlib.h"
+   #include <zlib.h>
 #endif
 
 #define ZSTREAM_BUFFER_SIZE 1024