diff --git a/Tools/mkwindows.sh b/Tools/mkwindows.sh
index 7b95dcbc7..0651bbd60 100755
--- a/Tools/mkwindows.sh
+++ b/Tools/mkwindows.sh
@@ -11,8 +11,7 @@ zip=
 
 # options for configure
 extraconfigureoptions=
-compileflags="-O2"
-extracompileflags=
+compileflags="-O2 -Wall -Wextra"
 
 if test x$1 != x; then
     version=$1
@@ -45,13 +44,15 @@ else
     fi
     echo "Checking that mingw 32-bit gcc is installed/available"
     if test -n "`which i686-w64-mingw32-gcc`" ; then
-      extraconfigureoptions="--host=i686-w64-mingw32"
       i686-w64-mingw32-gcc --version || exit 1
       i686-w64-mingw32-g++ --version || exit 1
+      extraconfigureoptions="--host=i686-w64-mingw32 --build=i686-linux"
+      # Statically link so that libstdc++-6.dll and libgcc_s_sjlj-1.dll don't have to be shipped
+      compileflags="$compileflags -static-libgcc -static-libstdc++"
     elif test -n "`which i586-mingw32msvc-gcc`" ; then
-      extraconfigureoptions="--host=i586-mingw32msvc --build=i686-linux"
       i586-mingw32msvc-gcc --version || exit 1
       i586-mingw32msvc-g++ --version || exit 1
+      extraconfigureoptions="--host=i586-mingw32msvc --build=i686-linux"
     else
       echo "Could not detect mingw gcc - please install mingw-w64 package."
       exit 1;
@@ -62,7 +63,7 @@ else
       if test x$zip = x; then
         zip=zip
       fi
-      compileflags="-O2 -mno-cygwin"
+      compileflags="$compileflags -mno-cygwin"
     else
       echo "Unknown platform. Requires either Linux or MinGW."
       exit 1;
@@ -70,6 +71,9 @@ else
   fi
 fi
 
+export CFLAGS="$compileflags"
+export CXXFLAGS="$compileflags"
+
 swigbasename=swig-$version
 swigwinbasename=swigwin-$version
 tarball=$swigbasename.tar.gz
@@ -98,10 +102,10 @@ if test -f "$tarball"; then
       tar -zxf ../$tarball
       cd $swigbasename
       (cd ../.. && cp $pcre_tarball $builddir/$swigbasename)
-      echo Running: Tools/pcre-build.sh $extraconfigureoptions CFLAGS="$compileflags" CXXFLAGS="$compileflags"
-      ./Tools/pcre-build.sh $extraconfigureoptions CFLAGS="$compileflags" CXXFLAGS="$compileflags" || exit 1
-      echo Running: ./configure $extraconfigureoptions --without-alllang CFLAGS="$compileflags" CXXFLAGS="$compileflags"
-      ./configure $extraconfigureoptions --without-alllang CFLAGS="$compileflags" CXXFLAGS="$compileflags" || exit 1
+      echo Running: Tools/pcre-build.sh $extraconfigureoptions
+      ./Tools/pcre-build.sh $extraconfigureoptions
+      echo Running: ./configure $extraconfigureoptions --without-alllang
+      ./configure $extraconfigureoptions --without-alllang
       echo "Compiling (quietly)..."
       make > build.log
       echo "Simple check to see if swig.exe runs..."