diff --git a/configure b/configure
index cf763d4674..e0915da750 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -912,9 +912,6 @@ fi
 if test "$mingw32" = "yes" ; then
   EXESUF=".exe"
   DSOSUF=".dll"
-  QEMU_CFLAGS="-DWIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN -DWINVER=0x501 $QEMU_CFLAGS"
-  # enable C99/POSIX format strings (needs mingw32-runtime 3.15 or later)
-  QEMU_CFLAGS="-D__USE_MINGW_ANSI_STDIO=1 $QEMU_CFLAGS"
   # MinGW needs -mthreads for TLS and macro _MT.
   QEMU_CFLAGS="-mthreads $QEMU_CFLAGS"
   LIBS="-lwinmm -lws2_32 -liphlpapi $LIBS"
diff --git a/include/qemu/osdep.h b/include/qemu/osdep.h
index 3bf48bcdec..7b6e5db9d0 100644
--- a/include/qemu/osdep.h
+++ b/include/qemu/osdep.h
@@ -74,13 +74,30 @@ typedef __float128 _Float128;
 extern int daemon(int, int);
 #endif
 
+#ifdef _WIN32
+/* as defined in sdkddkver.h */
+#ifndef WINVER
+#define WINVER 0x0501 /* XP */
+#endif
+/* reduces the number of implicitly included headers */
+#ifndef WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
+#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
+#endif
+#endif
+
 #include <stdarg.h>
 #include <stddef.h>
 #include <stdbool.h>
 #include <stdint.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
+
+/* enable C99/POSIX format strings (needs mingw32-runtime 3.15 or later) */
+#ifdef __MINGW32__
+#define __USE_MINGW_ANSI_STDIO 1
+#endif
 #include <stdio.h>
+
 #include <string.h>
 #include <strings.h>
 #include <inttypes.h>