diff --git a/src/common/utilscmn.cpp b/src/common/utilscmn.cpp
index 535c455a66..147b3748b5 100644
--- a/src/common/utilscmn.cpp
+++ b/src/common/utilscmn.cpp
@@ -551,6 +551,11 @@ bool wxGetEnvMap(wxEnvVariableHashMap *map)
     wxCHECK_MSG( map, false, wxS("output pointer can't be NULL") );
 
 #if defined(__VISUALC__)
+    // This variable only exists to force the CRT to fill the wide char array,
+    // it might only have it in narrow char version until now as we use main()
+    // (and not _wmain()) as our entry point.
+    static wxChar* s_dummyEnvVar = _tgetenv(wxT("TEMP"));
+
     wxChar **env = _tenviron;
 #elif defined(__VMS)
    // Now this routine wil give false for OpenVMS