diff --git a/Lib/packaging/compiler/msvc9compiler.py b/Lib/packaging/compiler/msvc9compiler.py
index 39b2e8455a0..7a19f47447a 100644
--- a/Lib/packaging/compiler/msvc9compiler.py
+++ b/Lib/packaging/compiler/msvc9compiler.py
@@ -356,7 +356,8 @@ class MSVCCompiler(CCompiler) :
             vc_env = query_vcvarsall(VERSION, plat_spec)
 
             # take care to only use strings in the environment.
-            self.__paths = vc_env['path'].split(os.pathsep).encode('mbcs')
+            self.__paths = [part.encode('mbcs') for part in
+                            vc_env['path'].split(os.pathsep)]
             os.environ['lib'] = vc_env['lib'].encode('mbcs')
             os.environ['include'] = vc_env['include'].encode('mbcs')