diff --git a/build/win32/vs10/README.txt b/build/win32/vs10/README.txt
index 304745cbe..01b6514ba 100644
--- a/build/win32/vs10/README.txt
+++ b/build/win32/vs10/README.txt
@@ -27,6 +27,12 @@ where to unpack them.  It is recommended that at least the dependencies
 from GNOME are also built with VS10 to avoid crashes caused by mixing different
 CRTs-please see also the build/win32/vs10/README.txt in those respective packages.
 
+If building the SDL winsys is desired, you will also need the SDL libraries
+from www.libsdl.org-building the SDL source package with Visual C++ 2008
+is recommended (working Visual C++ 2005 projects are included with it, upgrade
+the projects one prompted), but one may want to use the VC8 binary packages
+from that website.
+
 The recommended build sequence of the dependencies are as follows (the non-GNOME
 packages that are not downloaded as binaries from ftp://ftp.gnome.org have
 makefiles and/or VS project files that can be used to compile with VS directly,
diff --git a/build/win32/vs10/cogl.props b/build/win32/vs10/cogl.props
index 9c2a3f3f8..a5a0cdeeb 100644
--- a/build/win32/vs10/cogl.props
+++ b/build/win32/vs10/cogl.props
@@ -11,6 +11,16 @@
     <CoglPangoBuildDefines>G_LOG_DOMAIN="Cogl-Pango"</CoglPangoBuildDefines>
     <TestProgDef>CLUTTER_COMPILATION;TESTS_DATADIR="../share/cogl-$(CoglApiVersion)/tests"</TestProgDef>
     <CopyDir>$(GlibEtcInstallRoot)</CopyDir>
+    <DoDefinesSDL>
+if exist ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h goto DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H
+copy ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h.win32_sdl ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h
+:DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H
+    </DoDefinesSDL>
+    <DoDefines>
+if exist ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h goto DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H
+copy ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h.win32 ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h
+:DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H
+    </DoDefines>
     <PreBuildCmd>
 if exist ..\..\..\config.h goto DONE_CONFIG_H
 
@@ -19,13 +29,6 @@ copy ..\..\..\config.h.win32 ..\..\..\config.h
 :DONE_CONFIG_H
 
 
-if exist ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h goto DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H
-
-copy ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h.win32 ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h
-
-:DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H
-
-
 cd ..
 
 gen-enums.bat $(GlibEtcInstallRoot)
@@ -232,6 +235,12 @@ copy ..\..\..\cogl\cogl2-experimental.h $(CopyDir)\include\cogl-$(CoglApiVersion
     <BuildMacro Include="TestProgDef">
       <Value>$(TestProgDef)</Value>
     </BuildMacro>
+    <BuildMacro Include="DoDefinesSDL">
+      <Value>$(DoDefinesSDL)</Value>
+    </BuildMacro>
+    <BuildMacro Include="DoDefines">
+      <Value>$(DoDefinesSDL)</Value>
+    </BuildMacro>
     <BuildMacro Include="PreBuildCmd">
       <Value>$(PreBuildCmd)</Value>
     </BuildMacro>
diff --git a/build/win32/vs9/README.txt b/build/win32/vs9/README.txt
index 925fee44c..4c4b45ab9 100644
--- a/build/win32/vs9/README.txt
+++ b/build/win32/vs9/README.txt
@@ -14,12 +14,24 @@ first need to use some Unix-like environment or manual work to expand
 the files needed, like config.h.win32.in into config.h.win32 and the
 .vcprojin files here into corresponding actual .vcproj files.
 
+Decide whether you want to build the SDL winsys with your COGL build, and
+use one of the .sln for building COGL (note that both will build the Windows
+OpenGL (WGL) winsys):
+-cogl.sln for building COGL without the SDL winsys
+-cogl_sdl.sln for building COGL with the SDL winsys
+
 You will need the parts from GNOME: GDK-Pixbuf, Pango* and GLib.
 External dependencies are at least zlib, libpng,
 gettext-runtime* and Cairo*, and glext.h from
 http://www.opengl.org/registry/api/glext.h (which need to be in the GL folder
 in your include directories or in <root>\vs9\<PlatformName>\include\GL).
 
+If building the SDL winsys is desired, you will also need the SDL libraries
+from www.libsdl.org-building the SDL source package with Visual C++ 2008
+is recommended (working Visual C++ 2005 projects are included with it, upgrade
+the projects one prompted), but one may want to use the VC8 binary packages
+from that website.
+
 Please see the README file in the root directory of this Cogl source package
 for the versions of the dependencies required.  See also
 build/win32/vs9/README.txt in the GLib source package for details
diff --git a/build/win32/vs9/cogl.vsprops b/build/win32/vs9/cogl.vsprops
index ffa01b930..4ee38babd 100644
--- a/build/win32/vs9/cogl.vsprops
+++ b/build/win32/vs9/cogl.vsprops
@@ -54,6 +54,22 @@
 		Name="TestProgDef"
 		Value="CLUTTER_COMPILATION;TESTS_DATADIR=\&quot;../share/cogl-$(CoglApiVersion)/tests\&quot;"
 	/>
+	<UserMacro
+		Name="DoDefinesSDL"
+		Value="
+if exist ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h goto DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H&#x0D;&#x0A;
+copy ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h.win32_sdl ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h&#x0D;&#x0A;
+:DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H&#x0D;&#x0A;
+"
+	/>
+	<UserMacro
+		Name="DoDefines"
+		Value="
+if exist ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h goto DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H&#x0D;&#x0A;
+copy ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h.win32 ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h&#x0D;&#x0A;
+:DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H&#x0D;&#x0A;
+"
+	/>
 	<UserMacro
 		Name="PreBuildCmd"
 		Value="
@@ -61,10 +77,6 @@ if exist ..\..\..\config.h goto DONE_CONFIG_H&#x0D;&#x0A;
 copy ..\..\..\config.h.win32 ..\..\..\config.h&#x0D;&#x0A;
 :DONE_CONFIG_H&#x0D;&#x0A;
 
-if exist ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h goto DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H&#x0D;&#x0A;
-copy ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h.win32 ..\..\..\cogl\cogl-defines.h&#x0D;&#x0A;
-:DONE_COGL_DEFINES_H&#x0D;&#x0A;
-
 cd ..&#x0D;&#x0A;
 gen-enums.bat $(GlibEtcInstallRoot)&#x0D;&#x0A;
 cd .\vs9&#x0D;&#x0A;