diff --git a/.github/workflows/win-ci.py b/.github/workflows/win-ci.py
index c4696f1..1df2fea 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/win-ci.py
+++ b/.github/workflows/win-ci.py
@@ -2,18 +2,19 @@
 # vim:fileencoding=utf-8
 # License: Apache 2.0 Copyright: 2017, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>
 
-from __future__ import print_function
-
+import ctypes.wintypes
 import errno
 import glob
 import io
 import os
+import re
 import shlex
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import tarfile
 import time
+from functools import lru_cache
 
 ZLIB = "http://zlib.net/zlib-{}.tar.xz".format("1.3")
 LIBXML2 = "https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/libxml2/-/archive/v2.12.0/libxml2-v2.12.0.tar.gz"
@@ -81,11 +82,6 @@ def run(*args, env=None, cwd=None):
         raise SystemExit(p.returncode)
 
 
-def distutils_vcvars():
-    from setuptools._distutils.msvc9compiler import find_vcvarsall, get_build_version
-    return find_vcvarsall(get_build_version())
-
-
 def remove_dups(variable):
     old_list = variable.split(os.pathsep)
     new_list = []
@@ -95,45 +91,6 @@ def remove_dups(variable):
     return os.pathsep.join(new_list)
 
 
-def query_process(cmd):
-    if plat == 'amd64' and 'PROGRAMFILES(x86)' not in os.environ:
-        os.environ['PROGRAMFILES(x86)'] = os.environ['PROGRAMFILES'] + ' (x86)'
-    result = {}
-    try:
-        popen = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-                                stderr=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True)
-    except FileNotFoundError as err:
-        raise SystemExit(f'Failed to execute: {cmd!r} with error: {err}')
-    try:
-        stdout, stderr = popen.communicate()
-        if popen.wait() != 0:
-            raise RuntimeError(stderr.decode("mbcs"))
-
-        stdout = stdout.decode("mbcs")
-        for line in stdout.splitlines():
-            if '=' not in line:
-                continue
-            line = line.strip()
-            key, value = line.split('=', 1)
-            key = key.lower()
-            if key == 'path':
-                if value.endswith(os.pathsep):
-                    value = value[:-1]
-                value = remove_dups(value)
-            result[key] = value
-
-    finally:
-        popen.stdout.close()
-        popen.stderr.close()
-    return result
-
-
-def query_vcvarsall():
-    vcvarsall = distutils_vcvars()
-    print('Querying vcvars:', vcvarsall)
-    return query_process('"%s" %s & set' % (vcvarsall, plat))
-
-
 def download_and_extract(url):
     raw = io.BytesIO(download_file(url))
     with tarfile.open(fileobj=raw, mode='r:*') as f:
@@ -264,8 +221,141 @@ def lxml():
     os.rename(package, os.path.join(SW, 'python', 'lib', 'site-packages', 'lxml'))
 
 
+CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES = 38
+CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILESX86 = 42
+
+
+@lru_cache()
+def get_program_files_location(which=CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILESX86):
+    SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT = 0
+    buf = ctypes.create_unicode_buffer(ctypes.wintypes.MAX_PATH)
+    ctypes.windll.shell32.SHGetFolderPathW(
+        0, which, 0, SHGFP_TYPE_CURRENT, buf)
+    return buf.value
+
+
+@lru_cache()
+def find_vswhere():
+    for which in (CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILESX86, CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES):
+        root = get_program_files_location(which)
+        vswhere = os.path.join(root, "Microsoft Visual Studio", "Installer",
+                               "vswhere.exe")
+        if os.path.exists(vswhere):
+            return vswhere
+    raise SystemExit('Could not find vswhere.exe')
+
+
+def get_output(*cmd):
+    return subprocess.check_output(cmd, encoding='mbcs', errors='strict')
+
+
+@lru_cache()
+def find_visual_studio():
+    path = get_output(
+        find_vswhere(),
+        "-latest",
+        "-requires",
+        "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Component.VC.Tools.x86.x64",
+        "-property",
+        "installationPath",
+        "-products",
+        "*"
+    ).strip()
+    return os.path.join(path, "VC", "Auxiliary", "Build")
+
+
+@lru_cache()
+def find_msbuild():
+    base_path = get_output(
+        find_vswhere(),
+        "-latest",
+        "-requires", "Microsoft.Component.MSBuild",
+        "-property", 'installationPath'
+    ).strip()
+    return glob(os.path.join(
+        base_path, 'MSBuild', '*', 'Bin', 'MSBuild.exe'))[0]
+
+
+def find_vcvarsall():
+    productdir = find_visual_studio()
+    vcvarsall = os.path.join(productdir, "vcvarsall.bat")
+    if os.path.isfile(vcvarsall):
+        return vcvarsall
+    raise SystemExit("Unable to find vcvarsall.bat in productdir: " +
+                     productdir)
+
+
+def query_process(cmd, is64bit):
+    if is64bit and 'PROGRAMFILES(x86)' not in os.environ:
+        os.environ['PROGRAMFILES(x86)'] = get_program_files_location()
+    result = {}
+    popen = subprocess.Popen(cmd,
+                             stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                             stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+    try:
+        stdout, stderr = popen.communicate()
+        if popen.wait() != 0:
+            raise RuntimeError(stderr.decode("mbcs"))
+
+        stdout = stdout.decode("mbcs")
+        for line in stdout.splitlines():
+            if '=' not in line:
+                continue
+            line = line.strip()
+            key, value = line.split('=', 1)
+            key = key.lower()
+            if key == 'path':
+                if value.endswith(os.pathsep):
+                    value = value[:-1]
+                value = remove_dups(value)
+            result[key] = value
+
+    finally:
+        popen.stdout.close()
+        popen.stderr.close()
+    return result
+
+
+@lru_cache()
+def query_vcvarsall(is64bit=True):
+    plat = 'amd64' if is64bit else 'amd64_x86'
+    vcvarsall = find_vcvarsall()
+    env = query_process(f'"{vcvarsall}" {plat} & set', is64bit)
+    pat = re.compile('vs(\d+)comntools', re.I)
+
+    comn_tools = {}
+
+    for k in env:
+        m = pat.match(k)
+        if m is not None:
+            comn_tools[k] = int(m.group(1))
+    comntools = sorted(comn_tools, key=comn_tools.__getitem__)[-1]
+
+
+    def g(k):
+        try:
+            return env[k]
+        except KeyError:
+            try:
+                return env[k.lower()]
+            except KeyError:
+                for k, v in env.items():
+                    print(f'{k}={v}', file=sys.stderr)
+                raise
+
+    return {
+        k: g(k)
+        for k in (
+            'PATH LIB INCLUDE LIBPATH WINDOWSSDKDIR'
+            f' {comntools} PLATFORM'
+            ' UCRTVERSION UNIVERSALCRTSDKDIR VCTOOLSVERSION WINDOWSSDKDIR'
+            ' WINDOWSSDKVERSION WINDOWSSDKVERBINPATH WINDOWSSDKBINPATH'
+            ' VISUALSTUDIOVERSION VSCMD_ARG_HOST_ARCH VSCMD_ARG_TGT_ARCH'
+        ).split()
+    }
+
+
 def install_deps():
-    run(PYTHON, '-m', 'pip', 'install', 'setuptools')
     env = query_vcvarsall()
     os.environ.update(env)
     print(PYTHON)