diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5bbe6c8c7..21a8f8b60 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ __pycache__/
 
 # C extensions
 *.so
+vc140.pdb
 
 # Distribution / packaging
 .Python
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@ htmlcov/
 .cache
 nosetests.xml
 coverage.xml
+test-output.xml
 *.cover
 *.py,cover
 .hypothesis/
diff --git a/azure-pipelines.yml b/azure-pipelines.yml
index d46fd4bb3..d61bbf56c 100644
--- a/azure-pipelines.yml
+++ b/azure-pipelines.yml
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ jobs:
       py38-macos:
         python.version: '3.8'
         imageName: 'macos-latest'
+      py38-win:
+        python.version: '3.8'
+        imageName: 'windows-latest'
   steps:
   - template: azure-templates/ccache.yml
     parameters:
@@ -51,6 +54,9 @@ jobs:
       py38-macos:
         python.version: '3.8'
         imageName: 'macos-latest'
+      py38-win:
+        python.version: '3.8'
+        imageName: 'windows-latest'
   steps:
   - template: azure-templates/ccache.yml
     parameters:
diff --git a/test/support.py b/test/support.py
index 06edc01e3..84e2e5cf8 100644
--- a/test/support.py
+++ b/test/support.py
@@ -182,14 +182,28 @@ def compile_module(self, ExtensionTemplate, main_src, name, extra_sources):
             extra_filename = self._expand(ExtensionTemplate, 'extmod_%d' % i, src)
             sources.append(extra_filename)
         #
-        compile_args = [
-            '-g', '-O0',
-            '-Wfatal-errors',    # stop after one error (unrelated to warnings)
-            '-Werror',           # turn warnings into errors (all, for now)
-        ]
-        link_args = [
-            '-g',
-        ]
+        if sys.platform == 'win32':
+            # not strictly true, could be mingw
+            compile_args = [
+                '/Od',
+                '/WX',               # turn warnings into errors (all, for now)
+                # '/Wall',           # this is too aggresive, makes windows itself fail
+                '/Zi',
+                '-D_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS', # something about _snprintf and _snprintf_s
+            ]
+            link_args = [
+                '/DEBUG',
+                '/LTCG',
+            ]
+        else:
+            compile_args = [
+                '-g', '-O0',
+                '-Wfatal-errors',    # stop after one error (unrelated to warnings)
+                '-Werror',           # turn warnings into errors (all, for now)
+            ]
+            link_args = [
+                '-g',
+            ]
         #
         ext = Extension(
             name,
diff --git a/test/test_argparse.py b/test/test_argparse.py
index a3ce33b61..2e4f04d24 100644
--- a/test/test_argparse.py
+++ b/test/test_argparse.py
@@ -12,7 +12,10 @@
 class TestParseItem(HPyTest):
     def make_parse_item(self, fmt, type, hpy_converter):
         mod = self.make_module("""
-            __attribute__((unused)) static inline
+            #ifndef _MSC_VER
+            __attribute__((unused))
+            #endif
+            static inline
             HPy char_to_hpybytes(HPyContext ctx, char a) {{
                 return HPyBytes_FromStringAndSize(ctx, &a, 1);
             }}