diff --git a/Modules/expat/expat.h b/Modules/expat/expat.h
index 76425122892..9259a45486e 100644
--- a/Modules/expat/expat.h
+++ b/Modules/expat/expat.h
@@ -724,6 +724,10 @@ typedef struct {
 XMLPARSEAPI(XML_Expat_Version)
 XML_ExpatVersionInfo(void);
 
+/* VERSION is not defined in expat.h.in, but it really belongs here,
+   and defining it on the command line gives difficulties with MSVC. */
+#define VERSION "1.95.2"
+
 #define XML_MAJOR_VERSION 1
 #define XML_MINOR_VERSION 95
 #define XML_MICRO_VERSION 2
diff --git a/PCbuild/pyexpat.dsp b/PCbuild/pyexpat.dsp
index 66910d020d9..9d2f7eaf464 100755
--- a/PCbuild/pyexpat.dsp
+++ b/PCbuild/pyexpat.dsp
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ CFG=pyexpat - Win32 Alpha Debug
 F90=df.exe
 CPP=cl.exe
 # ADD BASE CPP /nologo /MT /W3 /GX /O2 /D "WIN32" /D "NDEBUG" /D "_WINDOWS" /YX /FD /c
-# ADD CPP /nologo /MD /W3 /GX /Zi /O2 /I "..\Include" /I "..\PC" /I "..\Modules\expat" /D "NDEBUG" /D "WIN32" /D "_WINDOWS" /D "HAVE_EXPAT_H" /D "XML_NS" /D "XML_DTD" /D XML_BYTE_ORDER=12 /D XML_CONTEXT_BYTES=1024 /D VERSION=\"1.95.2\" /YX /FD /c
+# ADD CPP /nologo /MD /W3 /GX /Zi /O2 /I "..\Include" /I "..\PC" /I "..\Modules\expat" /D "NDEBUG" /D "WIN32" /D "_WINDOWS" /D "HAVE_EXPAT_H" /D "XML_NS" /D "XML_DTD" /D XML_BYTE_ORDER=12 /D XML_CONTEXT_BYTES=1024 /YX /FD /c
 MTL=midl.exe
 # ADD BASE MTL /nologo /D "NDEBUG" /mktyplib203 /o "NUL" /win32
 # ADD MTL /nologo /D "NDEBUG" /mktyplib203 /o "NUL" /win32
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ LINK32=link.exe
 F90=df.exe
 CPP=cl.exe
 # ADD BASE CPP /nologo /MTd /W3 /Gm /GX /Zi /Od /D "WIN32" /D "_DEBUG" /D "_WINDOWS" /YX /FD /c
-# ADD CPP /nologo /MDd /W3 /Gm /GX /Zi /Od /I "..\Include" /I "..\PC" /I "..\Modules\expat" /D "_DEBUG" /D "WIN32" /D "_WINDOWS" /D "HAVE_EXPAT_H" /D "XML_NS" /D "XML_DTD" /D XML_BYTE_ORDER=12 /D XML_CONTEXT_BYTES=1024 /D VERSION="1.95.2" /YX /FD /c
+# ADD CPP /nologo /MDd /W3 /Gm /GX /Zi /Od /I "..\Include" /I "..\PC" /I "..\Modules\expat" /D "_DEBUG" /D "WIN32" /D "_WINDOWS" /D "HAVE_EXPAT_H" /D "XML_NS" /D "XML_DTD" /D XML_BYTE_ORDER=12 /D XML_CONTEXT_BYTES=1024 /YX /FD /c
 MTL=midl.exe
 # ADD BASE MTL /nologo /D "_DEBUG" /mktyplib203 /o "NUL" /win32
 # ADD MTL /nologo /D "_DEBUG" /mktyplib203 /o "NUL" /win32
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 6270f41fefa..d928775dc8e 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -567,7 +567,6 @@ class PyBuildExt(build_ext):
             ],
                               define_macros = [
             ('HAVE_EXPAT_H',None),
-            ('VERSION', '"1.95.2"'),
             ('XML_NS', '1'),
             ('XML_DTD', '1'),
             ('XML_BYTE_ORDER', xmlbo),