diff --git a/build.rs b/build.rs
index a011aad..8d7f976 100644
--- a/build.rs
+++ b/build.rs
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@
 
 use std::process::{Command, Stdio};
 
+/// Check if a tool is available by running it with --version.
+/// Works for most tools (cmake, git, g++, clang++, arduino-cli).
 fn has_tool(name: &str) -> bool {
     Command::new(name)
         .arg("--version")
@@ -22,7 +24,57 @@ fn has_tool(name: &str) -> bool {
         .is_ok()
 }
 
+/// Check if a C++ compiler is available.
+///
+/// g++ and clang++ respond to --version normally.  MSVC's cl.exe does
+/// not -- it rejects --version and returns an error.  On Windows we
+/// fall back to checking PATH via `where cl`.  On Unix, cmake cannot
+/// discover MSVC so we only check g++ and clang++.
+fn has_cpp_compiler() -> bool {
+    if has_tool("g++") || has_tool("clang++") {
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    // cl.exe doesn't support --version; check PATH directly on Windows.
+    // On a regular command prompt cl may not be in PATH, but cmake can
+    // still find MSVC via the Visual Studio registry.  We check `where`
+    // as a best-effort signal.
+    #[cfg(windows)]
+    {
+        let found = Command::new("where")
+            .arg("cl")
+            .stdout(Stdio::null())
+            .stderr(Stdio::null())
+            .status()
+            .map(|s| s.success())
+            .unwrap_or(false);
+        if found {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        // Last resort: cmake can discover MSVC even when cl is not in
+        // PATH.  Check if any Visual Studio installation exists by
+        // looking for vswhere, which ships with VS 2017+.
+        let vswhere = Command::new("cmd")
+            .args(["/C", "where", "vswhere"])
+            .stdout(Stdio::null())
+            .stderr(Stdio::null())
+            .status()
+            .map(|s| s.success())
+            .unwrap_or(false);
+        if vswhere {
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+
+    #[cfg(not(windows))]
+    let _ = (); // silence unused warning
+
+    false
+}
+
 fn main() {
+    // Declare custom cfg names so rustc doesn't warn about them.
     println!("cargo::rustc-check-cfg=cfg(has_cmake)");
     println!("cargo::rustc-check-cfg=cfg(has_cpp_compiler)");
     println!("cargo::rustc-check-cfg=cfg(has_git)");
@@ -31,7 +83,7 @@ fn main() {
     if has_tool("cmake") {
         println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=has_cmake");
     }
-    if has_tool("g++") || has_tool("clang++") || has_tool("cl") {
+    if has_cpp_compiler() {
         println!("cargo:rustc-cfg=has_cpp_compiler");
     }
     if has_tool("git") {