diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 4ddf96f31e70fd..4a3cba50a23efb 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -5177,11 +5177,14 @@ AC_MSG_RESULT([$with_freelists])
 AC_MSG_CHECKING([for --with-c-locale-coercion])
 AC_ARG_WITH(
   [c-locale-coercion],
-  [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-c-locale-coercion], [enable C locale coercion to a UTF-8 based locale (default is yes)])])
+  [AS_HELP_STRING([--with-c-locale-coercion], [enable C locale coercion to a UTF-8 based locale (default is yes on Unix, no on Windows)])])
 
 if test -z "$with_c_locale_coercion"
 then
-    with_c_locale_coercion="yes"
+    case $host in
+      *-*-mingw*) with_c_locale_coercion="no";;
+      *) with_c_locale_coercion="yes";;
+    esac
 fi
 if test "$with_c_locale_coercion" != "no"
 then