diff --git a/build_w32.bat b/build_w32.bat
index c464e26d..49ac821a 100755
--- a/build_w32.bat
+++ b/build_w32.bat
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ if "%COMPILER%" == "gcc" goto FindGcc
 if "%COMPILER%" == "tcc" goto FindTcc
 
 :: Find a compiler.  Visual Studio requires a lot of effort to locate :-/.
-%COMPILER% >nul 2>&1
+call %COMPILER% >nul 2>&1
 if not ERRORLEVEL 1 goto FoundMSVC
 
 :: Visual Studio 17 and above provides the "vswhere" tool
@@ -175,7 +175,7 @@ if "%MAINT%" == "Y" set "OPTS=%OPTS% /D MAKE_MAINTAINER_MODE"
 :: Show the compiler version that we found
 :: Unfortunately this also shows a "usage" note; I can't find anything better.
 echo.
-%COMPILER%
+call %COMPILER%
 goto Build
 
 :FindGcc
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ if "%DEBUG%" == "Y" set LNKOUT=./GccDebug
 if "%MAINT%" == "Y" set "OPTS=%OPTS% -DMAKE_MAINTAINER_MODE"
 :: Show the compiler version that we found
 echo.
-%COMPILER% --version
+call %COMPILER% --version
 if not ERRORLEVEL 1 goto Build
 echo No %COMPILER% found.
 exit 1
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ if "%DEBUG%" == "Y" set LNKOUT=./TccDebug
 if "%MAINT%" == "Y" set "OPTS=%OPTS% -DMAKE_MAINTAINER_MODE"
 :: Show the compiler version that we found
 echo.
-%COMPILER% -v
+call %COMPILER% -v
 if not ERRORLEVEL 1 goto Build
 echo No %COMPILER% found.
 exit 1
@@ -304,21 +304,21 @@ if "%COMPILER%" == "tcc" goto TccCompile
 
 :: MSVC Compile
 echo on
-%COMPILER% /nologo /MT /W4 /EHsc %OPTS% /I %OUTDIR%/src /I src /I %OUTDIR%/lib /I lib /I src/w32/include /D WINDOWS32 /D WIN32 /D _CONSOLE /D HAVE_CONFIG_H /FR%OUTDIR% /Fp%OUTDIR%\%MAKE%.pch /Fo%OUTDIR%\%1.%O% /Fd%OUTDIR%\%MAKE%.pdb %EXTRAS% /c %1.c
+call %COMPILER% /nologo /MT /W4 /EHsc %OPTS% /I %OUTDIR%/src /I src /I %OUTDIR%/lib /I lib /I src/w32/include /D WINDOWS32 /D WIN32 /D _CONSOLE /D HAVE_CONFIG_H /FR%OUTDIR% /Fp%OUTDIR%\%MAKE%.pch /Fo%OUTDIR%\%1.%O% /Fd%OUTDIR%\%MAKE%.pdb %EXTRAS% /c %1.c
 @echo off
 goto CompileDone
 
 :GccCompile
 :: GCC Compile
 echo on
-%COMPILER% -mthreads -Wall -std=gnu99 -gdwarf-2 -g3 %OPTS% -I%OUTDIR%/src -I./src -I%OUTDIR%/lib -I./lib -I./src/w32/include -DWINDOWS32 -DHAVE_CONFIG_H %EXTRAS% -o %OUTDIR%/%1.%O% -c %1.c
+call %COMPILER% -mthreads -Wall -std=gnu99 -gdwarf-2 -g3 %OPTS% -I%OUTDIR%/src -I./src -I%OUTDIR%/lib -I./lib -I./src/w32/include -DWINDOWS32 -DHAVE_CONFIG_H %EXTRAS% -o %OUTDIR%/%1.%O% -c %1.c
 @echo off
 goto CompileDone
 
 :TccCompile
 :: TCC Compile
 echo on
-%COMPILER% -mthreads -Wall -std=c11 %OPTS% -I%OUTDIR%/src -I./src -I%OUTDIR%/lib -I./lib -I./src/w32/include -D_cdecl= -D_MSC_VER -DWINDOWS32 -DHAVE_CONFIG_H %EXTRAS% -o %OUTDIR%/%1.%O% -c %1.c
+call %COMPILER% -mthreads -Wall -std=c11 %OPTS% -I%OUTDIR%/src -I./src -I%OUTDIR%/lib -I./lib -I./src/w32/include -D_cdecl= -D_MSC_VER -DWINDOWS32 -DHAVE_CONFIG_H %EXTRAS% -o %OUTDIR%/%1.%O% -c %1.c
 @echo off
 goto CompileDone
 
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ if "%COMPILER%" == "tcc" goto TccLink
 :: MSVC Link
 echo %GUILELIBS% kernel32.lib user32.lib gdi32.lib winspool.lib comdlg32.lib advapi32.lib shell32.lib ole32.lib oleaut32.lib uuid.lib odbc32.lib odbccp32.lib >>%OUTDIR%\link.sc
 echo on
-link.exe /NOLOGO /SUBSYSTEM:console /PDB:%LNKOUT%\%MAKE%.pdb %LINKOPTS% /OUT:%LNKOUT%\%MAKE%.exe @%LNKOUT%\link.sc
+call link.exe /NOLOGO /SUBSYSTEM:console /PDB:%LNKOUT%\%MAKE%.pdb %LINKOPTS% /OUT:%LNKOUT%\%MAKE%.exe @%LNKOUT%\link.sc
 @echo off
 goto :EOF
 
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ goto :EOF
 :: GCC Link
 echo on
 echo %GUILELIBS% -lkernel32 -luser32 -lgdi32 -lwinspool -lcomdlg32 -ladvapi32 -lshell32 -lole32 -loleaut32 -luuid -lodbc32 -lodbccp32 >>%OUTDIR%\link.sc
-%COMPILER% -mthreads -gdwarf-2 -g3 %OPTS% -o %LNKOUT%/%MAKE%.exe @%LNKOUT%/link.sc -Wl,--out-implib=%LNKOUT%/libgnumake-1.dll.a
+call %COMPILER% -mthreads -gdwarf-2 -g3 %OPTS% -o %LNKOUT%/%MAKE%.exe @%LNKOUT%/link.sc -Wl,--out-implib=%LNKOUT%/libgnumake-1.dll.a
 @echo off
 goto :EOF
 
@@ -351,42 +351,44 @@ goto :EOF
 :: TCC Link
 echo on
 echo %GUILELIBS% -lkernel32 -luser32 -lgdi32 -lcomdlg32 -ladvapi32 -lshell32 -lole32 -loleaut32 -lodbc32 -lodbccp32 >>%OUTDIR%\link.sc
-%COMPILER% -mthreads %OPTS% -o %LNKOUT%/%MAKE%.exe @%LNKOUT%/link.sc 
+call %COMPILER% -mthreads %OPTS% -o %LNKOUT%/%MAKE%.exe @%LNKOUT%/link.sc 
 @echo off
 goto :EOF
 
 :ConfigSCM
 echo Generating config from SCM templates
-sed -n "s/^AC_INIT(\[GNU make\],\[\([^]]\+\)\].*/s,%%VERSION%%,\1,g/p" configure.ac > %OUTDIR%\src\config.h.W32.sed
+call sed -n "s/^AC_INIT(\[GNU make\],\[\([^]]\+\)\].*/s,%%VERSION%%,\1,g/p" configure.ac > %OUTDIR%\src\config.h.W32.sed
 echo s,%%PACKAGE%%,make,g >> %OUTDIR%\src\config.h.W32.sed
-sed -f %OUTDIR%\src\config.h.W32.sed src\config.h.W32.template > src\config.h.W32
+call sed -f %OUTDIR%\src\config.h.W32.sed src\config.h.W32.template > src\config.h.W32
 echo static const char *const GUILE_module_defn = ^" \ > src\gmk-default.h
-sed -e "s/;.*//" -e "/^[ \t]*$/d" -e "s/\"/\\\\\"/g" -e "s/$/ \\\/" src\gmk-default.scm >> src\gmk-default.h
+call sed -e "s/;.*//" -e "/^[ \t]*$/d" -e "s/\"/\\\\\"/g" -e "s/$/ \\\/" src\gmk-default.scm >> src\gmk-default.h
 echo ^";>> src\gmk-default.h
 goto :EOF
 
 :ChkGuile
 :: Build with Guile is supported only on NT and later versions
 if not "%OS%" == "Windows_NT" goto NoGuile
-pkg-config --help > %OUTDIR%\guile.tmp 2> NUL
+call pkg-config --help > %OUTDIR%\guile.tmp 2> NUL
 if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto NoPkgCfg
 
-echo Checking for Guile 2.0
+set PKGMSC=
 if not "%COMPILER%" == "gcc" set PKGMSC=--msvc-syntax
-pkg-config --cflags --short-errors "guile-2.0" > %OUTDIR%\guile.tmp
-if not ERRORLEVEL 1 set /P GUILECFLAGS= < %OUTDIR%\guile.tmp
 
-pkg-config --libs --static --short-errors %PKGMSC% "guile-2.0" > %OUTDIR%\guile.tmp
-if not ERRORLEVEL 1 set /P GUILELIBS= < %OUTDIR%\guile.tmp
+echo Checking for Guile 2.0
+call pkg-config --cflags --short-errors "guile-2.0" > %OUTDIR%\gl-c2.tmp 2> NUL
+if not ERRORLEVEL 1 set /P GUILECFLAGS= < %OUTDIR%\gl-c2.tmp
+
+call pkg-config --libs --static --short-errors %PKGMSC% "guile-2.0" > %OUTDIR%\gl-l2.tmp 2> NUL
+if not ERRORLEVEL 1 set /P GUILELIBS= < %OUTDIR%\gl-l2.tmp
 
 if not "%GUILECFLAGS%" == "" goto GuileDone
 
 echo Checking for Guile 1.8
-pkg-config --cflags --short-errors "guile-1.8" > %OUTDIR%\guile.tmp
-if not ERRORLEVEL 1 set /P GUILECFLAGS= < %OUTDIR%\guile.tmp
+call pkg-config --cflags --short-errors "guile-1.8" > %OUTDIR%\gl-c18.tmp 2> NUL
+if not ERRORLEVEL 1 set /P GUILECFLAGS= < %OUTDIR%\gl-c18.tmp
 
-pkg-config --libs --static --short-errors %PKGMSC% "guile-1.8" > %OUTDIR%\guile.tmp
-if not ERRORLEVEL 1 set /P GUILELIBS= < %OUTDIR%\guile.tmp
+call pkg-config --libs --static --short-errors %PKGMSC% "guile-1.8" > %OUTDIR%\gl-l18.tmp 2> NUL
+if not ERRORLEVEL 1 set /P GUILELIBS= < %OUTDIR%\gl-l18.tmp
 
 if not "%GUILECFLAGS%" == "" goto GuileDone
 
@@ -405,10 +407,10 @@ goto :EOF
 
 :FindVswhere
 set VSWHERE=vswhere
-"%VSWHERE%" -help >nul 2>&1
+call "%VSWHERE%" -help >nul 2>&1
 if not ERRORLEVEL 1 exit /b 0
 set "VSWHERE=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere"
-"%VSWHERE%" -help >nul 2>&1
+call "%VSWHERE%" -help >nul 2>&1
 if ERRORLEVEL 1 exit /b 1
 goto :EOF
 
@@ -416,7 +418,7 @@ goto :EOF
 if not exist "%VSVARS%" exit /b 1
 call "%VSVARS%" %ARCH%
 if ERRORLEVEL 1 exit /b 1
-%COMPILER% >nul 2>&1
+call %COMPILER% >nul 2>&1
 if ERRORLEVEL 1 exit /b 1
 goto :EOF