diff --git a/Source/build.cpp b/Source/build.cpp
index cc15e245..c4ebb416 100644
--- a/Source/build.cpp
+++ b/Source/build.cpp
@@ -2191,7 +2191,7 @@ int CEXEBuild::pack_exe_header()
   }
   fwrite(m_exehead,1,m_exehead_size,tmpfile);
   fclose(tmpfile);
-  if (system(build_packcmd) == -1)
+  if (sane_system(build_packcmd) == -1)
   {
     remove(build_packname);
     ERROR_MSG("Error: calling packer on \"%s\"\n",build_packname);
diff --git a/Source/script.cpp b/Source/script.cpp
index 873f9d45..54db2d6b 100644
--- a/Source/script.cpp
+++ b/Source/script.cpp
@@ -2790,7 +2790,7 @@ int CEXEBuild::doCommand(int which_token, LineParser &line)
         if (!success && comp != 4) PRINTHELP()
         SCRIPT_MSG("!system: \"%s\"\n",exec);
 #ifdef _WIN32
-        int ret=system(exec);
+        int ret=sane_system(exec);
 #else
         char *execfixed = my_convert(exec);
         int ret=system(execfixed);
diff --git a/Source/util.cpp b/Source/util.cpp
index 3a982917..c0a9bc66 100644
--- a/Source/util.cpp
+++ b/Source/util.cpp
@@ -692,3 +692,30 @@ string lowercase(const string &str) {
   transform(str.begin(), str.end(), result.begin(), tolower);
   return result;
 }
+
+int sane_system(const char *command) {
+#ifdef _WIN32
+
+  // workaround for bug #1509909
+  // http://sf.net/tracker/?func=detail&atid=373085&aid=1509909&group_id=22049
+  //
+  // cmd.exe /C has some weird handling for quotes. it strips
+  // the surrounding quotes, if they exist. if there are quotes
+  // around the program path and its arguments, it will strip
+  // the outer quotes. this may result in something like:
+  //   `program files\nsis\makensis.exe" "args`
+  // which obviously fails...
+  //
+  // to avoid the stripping, a harmless string is prefixed
+  // to the command line.
+
+  string command_s = "IF 1==1 ";
+  command_s += command;
+  return system(command_s.c_str());
+
+#else
+
+  return system(command);
+
+#endif
+}
diff --git a/Source/util.h b/Source/util.h
index e645fb2f..cc92214a 100644
--- a/Source/util.h
+++ b/Source/util.h
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ std::string lowercase(const std::string&);
 std::string get_string_prefix(const std::string& str, const std::string& separator);
 std::string get_string_suffix(const std::string& str, const std::string& separator);
 
+int sane_system(const char *command);
+
 #ifndef _WIN32
 char *CharPrev(const char *s, const char *p);
 char *CharNext(const char *s);