diff --git a/make/windows/build.bat b/make/windows/build.bat
index d8da75ec12c9bd04face30f7abe35662ef2cb6cc..4368f17e8304b919b18eaad000ec9cc83011b157 100644
--- a/make/windows/build.bat
+++ b/make/windows/build.bat
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ REM
 REM Since we don't have uname and we could be cross-compiling,
 REM Use the compiler to determine which ARCH we are building
 REM 
+REM Note: Running this batch file from the Windows command shell requires
+REM that "grep" be accessible on the PATH. An MKS install does this.
+REM 
 cl 2>&1 | grep "IA-64" >NUL
 if %errorlevel% == 0 goto isia64
 cl 2>&1 | grep "AMD64" >NUL
@@ -109,7 +112,7 @@ echo workspace is source directory without trailing slash,
 echo bootstrap_dir is a full path to a JDK in which bin/java 
 echo   and bin/javac are present and working, and build_id is an 
 echo   optional build identifier displayed by java -version
-exit 1
+exit /b 1
 
 :end
-exit %errorlevel%
+exit /b %errorlevel%
diff --git a/make/windows/build.make b/make/windows/build.make
index b8e286abf700b3c25dbf5bcaf9e376ce0da5bc14..dbb2a7a3e89dd6e801bb143d70862356e6a8ad50 100644
--- a/make/windows/build.make
+++ b/make/windows/build.make
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@
 # environment variables (Variant, WorkSpace, BootStrapDir, BuildUser, HOTSPOT_BUILD_VERSION)
 # are passed in as command line arguments.
 
+# Note: Running nmake or build.bat from the Windows command shell requires
+# that "sh" be accessible on the PATH. An MKS install does this.
+
 # SA components are built if BUILD_WIN_SA=1 is specified.
 # See notes in README. This produces files:
 #  1. sa-jdi.jar       - This is built before building jvm.dll
diff --git a/make/windows/create.bat b/make/windows/create.bat
index 0f208806b657788f0ddf20cb35c848b5e2789bf8..4d66df858b7ff197f9bd17e2acd9fb3dd03e049e 100644
--- a/make/windows/create.bat
+++ b/make/windows/create.bat
@@ -36,6 +36,9 @@ REM
 REM Since we don't have uname and we could be cross-compiling,
 REM Use the compiler to determine which ARCH we are building
 REM 
+REM Note: Running this batch file from the Windows command shell requires
+REM that "grep" be accessible on the PATH. An MKS install does this.
+REM 
 cl 2>&1 | grep "IA-64" >NUL
 if %errorlevel% == 0 goto isia64
 cl 2>&1 | grep "AMD64" >NUL
diff --git a/make/windows/get_msc_ver.sh b/make/windows/get_msc_ver.sh
index ac5db63b9d02d6cb95226e694e937dbaf32a47f9..ee13576771cfc9bb6d59e136f865e45c3bb9bc07 100644
--- a/make/windows/get_msc_ver.sh
+++ b/make/windows/get_msc_ver.sh
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ else
   TOOL_DIR=`dirname "$SH"`
 fi
 
+DIRNAME="$TOOL_DIR/dirname"
 HEAD="$TOOL_DIR/head"
 ECHO="$TOOL_DIR/echo"
 EXPR="$TOOL_DIR/expr"
@@ -76,8 +77,13 @@ if [ "x$FORCE_LINK_VER" != "x" ]; then
 else
   # use the "link" command that is co-located with the "cl" command
   cl_cmd=`which cl`
-  cl_dir=`dirname $cl_cmd`
-  LINK_VER_RAW=`$cl_dir/link 2>&1 | "$HEAD" -n 1 | "$SED" 's/.*Version[\ ]*\([0-9][0-9.]*\).*/\1/'`
+  if [ "x$cl_cmd" != "x" ]; then
+    link_cmd=`$DIRNAME "$cl_cmd"`/link
+  else
+    # which can't find "cl" so just use which ever "link" we find
+    link_cmd="link"
+  fi
+  LINK_VER_RAW=`"$link_cmd" 2>&1 | "$HEAD" -n 1 | "$SED" 's/.*Version[\ ]*\([0-9][0-9.]*\).*/\1/'`
   LINK_VER_MAJOR=`"$ECHO" $LINK_VER_RAW | "$CUT" -d'.' -f1`
   LINK_VER_MINOR=`"$ECHO" $LINK_VER_RAW | "$CUT" -d'.' -f2`
   LINK_VER_MICRO=`"$ECHO" $LINK_VER_RAW | "$CUT" -d'.' -f3`