diff --git a/make/windows/build.bat b/make/windows/build.bat
index 444f88a26d4a22699e7eb10632e27d4838cf744d..d8da75ec12c9bd04face30f7abe35662ef2cb6cc 100644
--- a/make/windows/build.bat
+++ b/make/windows/build.bat
@@ -57,11 +57,12 @@ if not "%7" == ""      goto usage
 if "%1" == "product"   goto test1
 if "%1" == "debug"     goto test1
 if "%1" == "fastdebug" goto test1
+if "%1" == "tree"      goto test1
 goto usage
 
 :test1
 if "%2" == "core"      goto test2
-if "%2" == "kernel"   goto test2
+if "%2" == "kernel"    goto test2
 if "%2" == "compiler1" goto test2
 if "%2" == "compiler2" goto test2
 if "%2" == "tiered"    goto test2
@@ -70,6 +71,7 @@ if "%2" == "adlc"      goto build_adlc
 goto usage
 
 :test2
+if "%1" == "tree"      goto build_tree
 REM check_j2se_version
 REM jvmti.make requires J2SE 1.4.x or newer.
 REM If not found then fail fast.
@@ -93,6 +95,10 @@ goto end
 nmake -f %3/make/windows/build.make Variant=compiler2 WorkSpace=%3 BootStrapDir=%4 BuildUser="%USERNAME%" HOTSPOT_BUILD_VERSION=%5 ADLC_ONLY=1 %1
 goto end
 
+:build_tree
+nmake -f %3/make/windows/build.make Variant=%2 WorkSpace=%3 BootStrapDir=%4 BuildUser="%USERNAME%" HOTSPOT_BUILD_VERSION="%5" %1
+goto end
+
 :usage
 echo Usage: build flavor version workspace bootstrap_dir [build_id] [windbg_home]
 echo.
@@ -100,8 +106,10 @@ echo where:
 echo flavor is "product", "debug" or "fastdebug",
 echo version is "core", "kernel", "compiler1", "compiler2", or "tiered",
 echo workspace is source directory without trailing slash, 
-echo bootstrap_dir is a full path to echo a JDK in which bin/java 
-echo   and bin/javac are present and working, and echo build_id is an 
+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
 
 :end
+exit %errorlevel%
diff --git a/make/windows/build.make b/make/windows/build.make
index 1e8a857f4185d0994ca83b143ad8763db2738ead..b8e286abf700b3c25dbf5bcaf9e376ce0da5bc14 100644
--- a/make/windows/build.make
+++ b/make/windows/build.make
@@ -233,6 +233,12 @@ develop: checks $(variantDir) $(variantDir)\local.make sanity
 	cd $(variantDir)
 	nmake -nologo -f $(WorkSpace)\make\windows\makefiles\top.make BUILD_FLAVOR=product DEVELOP=1 ARCH=$(ARCH)
 
+# target to create just the directory structure
+tree: checks $(variantDir) $(variantDir)\local.make sanity
+	mkdir $(variantDir)\product
+	mkdir $(variantDir)\debug
+	mkdir $(variantDir)\fastdebug
+
 sanity:
 	@ echo;
 	@ cd $(variantDir)
diff --git a/make/windows/get_msc_ver.sh b/make/windows/get_msc_ver.sh
index 9cf69456a52f668272148010c1a1835506620307..ac5db63b9d02d6cb95226e694e937dbaf32a47f9 100644
--- a/make/windows/get_msc_ver.sh
+++ b/make/windows/get_msc_ver.sh
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@
 #  
 #
 
+set -e
+
 # This shell script echoes "MSC_VER=<munged version of cl>"
 # It ignores the micro version component.
 # Examples:
@@ -38,17 +40,19 @@
 # sh, and it has been found that sometimes `which sh` fails.
 
 if [ "x$HotSpotMksHome" != "x" ]; then
- MKS_HOME="$HotSpotMksHome"
+  TOOL_DIR="$HotSpotMksHome"
 else
- SH=`which sh`
- MKS_HOME=`dirname "$SH"`
+  # HotSpotMksHome is not set so use the directory that contains "sh".
+  # This works with both MKS and Cygwin.
+  SH=`which sh`
+  TOOL_DIR=`dirname "$SH"`
 fi
 
-HEAD="$MKS_HOME/head"
-ECHO="$MKS_HOME/echo"
-EXPR="$MKS_HOME/expr"
-CUT="$MKS_HOME/cut"
-SED="$MKS_HOME/sed"
+HEAD="$TOOL_DIR/head"
+ECHO="$TOOL_DIR/echo"
+EXPR="$TOOL_DIR/expr"
+CUT="$TOOL_DIR/cut"
+SED="$TOOL_DIR/sed"
 
 if [ "x$FORCE_MSC_VER" != "x" ]; then
   echo "MSC_VER=$FORCE_MSC_VER"
@@ -70,7 +74,10 @@ fi
 if [ "x$FORCE_LINK_VER" != "x" ]; then
   echo "LINK_VER=$FORCE_LINK_VER"
 else
-  LINK_VER_RAW=`link 2>&1 | "$HEAD" -n 1 | "$SED" 's/.*Version[\ ]*\([0-9][0-9.]*\).*/\1/'`
+  # 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/'`
   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`