diff --git a/dlls/kernel/kernel_main.c b/dlls/kernel/kernel_main.c
index 7e632b6ac58..f27b70aa690 100644
--- a/dlls/kernel/kernel_main.c
+++ b/dlls/kernel/kernel_main.c
@@ -166,9 +166,6 @@ static BOOL process_attach(void)
         LoadLibrary16( "system.drv" );
     }
 
-    /* Create 16-bit task */
-    TASK_CreateMainTask();
-
     /* Create the shared heap for broken win95 native dlls */
     HeapCreate( HEAP_SHARED, 0, 0 );
 
@@ -195,7 +192,9 @@ static BOOL process_attach(void)
     if (main_create_flags & CREATE_NEW_PROCESS_GROUP)
         SetConsoleCtrlHandler(NULL, TRUE);
 
+    /* Create 16-bit task */
     thread_attach();
+    TASK_CreateMainTask();
     return TRUE;
 }
 
diff --git a/dlls/kernel/task.c b/dlls/kernel/task.c
index 16d359554ce..eafc404683d 100644
--- a/dlls/kernel/task.c
+++ b/dlls/kernel/task.c
@@ -1554,3 +1554,47 @@ DWORD WINAPI GetAppCompatFlags16( HTASK16 hTask )
     if (GlobalSize16(hTask) < sizeof(TDB)) return 0;
     return pTask->compat_flags;
 }
+
+
+/***********************************************************************
+ *           GetDOSEnvironment     (KERNEL.131)
+ *
+ * Note: the environment is allocated once, it doesn't track changes
+ * made using the Win32 API. This shouldn't matter.
+ *
+ * Format of a 16-bit environment block:
+ * ASCIIZ   string 1 (xx=yy format)
+ * ...
+ * ASCIIZ   string n
+ * BYTE     0
+ * WORD     1
+ * ASCIIZ   program name (e.g. C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KRNL386.EXE)
+ */
+SEGPTR WINAPI GetDOSEnvironment16(void)
+{
+    static const char ENV_program_name[] = "C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM\\KRNL386.EXE";
+    static HGLOBAL16 handle;  /* handle to the 16 bit environment */
+
+    if (!handle)
+    {
+        DWORD size;
+        LPSTR p, env;
+
+        p = env = GetEnvironmentStringsA();
+        while (*p) p += strlen(p) + 1;
+        p++;  /* skip last null */
+        size = (p - env) + sizeof(WORD) + sizeof(ENV_program_name);
+        handle = GlobalAlloc16( GMEM_FIXED, size );
+        if (handle)
+        {
+            WORD one = 1;
+            LPSTR env16 = GlobalLock16( handle );
+            memcpy( env16, env, p - env );
+            memcpy( env16 + (p - env), &one, sizeof(one));
+            memcpy( env16 + (p - env) + sizeof(WORD), ENV_program_name, sizeof(ENV_program_name));
+            GlobalUnlock16( handle );
+        }
+        FreeEnvironmentStringsA( env );
+    }
+    return K32WOWGlobalLock16( handle );
+}
diff --git a/memory/environ.c b/memory/environ.c
index d29ced067b9..126fb8f7a63 100644
--- a/memory/environ.c
+++ b/memory/environ.c
@@ -31,87 +31,23 @@
 #include "winbase.h"
 #include "winerror.h"
 #include "thread.h"
-#include "wine/winbase16.h"
 #include "wine/server.h"
 #include "wine/library.h"
-#include "heap.h"
 #include "winternl.h"
-#include "selectors.h"
 #include "wine/unicode.h"
 #include "wine/debug.h"
 
 WINE_DEFAULT_DEBUG_CHANNEL(environ);
 
-/* TODO:
- * - 16 bit environment ??? (see generate_env_block16 for the details)
- */
-
-/* Format of an environment block:
- * ASCIIZ   string 1 (xx=yy format)
- * ...
- * ASCIIZ   string n
- * BYTE     0
- * WORD     1
- * ASCIIZ   program name (e.g. C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KRNL386.EXE)
- *
- * Notes:
+/* Notes:
  * - contrary to Microsoft docs, the environment strings do not appear
  *   to be sorted on Win95 (although they are on NT); so we don't bother
  *   to sort them either.
- * - on Win2K (and likely most of NT versions) the last part (WORD 1 and 
- *   program name no longer appear in the environment block (from the 32
- *   bit interface)
  */
 
-static const char ENV_program_name[] = "C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSTEM\\KRNL386.EXE";
-
 static STARTUPINFOW startup_infoW;
 static STARTUPINFOA startup_infoA;
 
-/* Maximum length of a Win16 environment string (including NULL) */
-#define MAX_WIN16_LEN  128
-
-static WORD env_sel;     /* selector to the 16 bit environment */
-
-/******************************************************************
- *		generate_env_block16
- *
- * This internal function generates a suitable environment for the 16 bit
- * subsystem and returns the value as a segmented pointer.
- *
- * FIXME: current implementation will allocate a private copy of the
- *        environment strings, but will not follow the modifications (if any)
- *        from the unicode env block stored in the PEB
- *              => how should this be updated from the ntdll modifications ?
- *                 should we use the peb->EnvironmentUpdateCount field to 
- *                 know when environment has changed ???
- *        we currently regenerate this block each time an environment 
- *        variable is modified from a Win32 API call, but we'll miss all
- *        direct access to the NTDLL APIs
- */
-static SEGPTR generate_env_block16(void)
-{
-    static LPSTR env16;
-
-    DWORD       size, new_size;
-    WORD        one = 1;
-
-    if (env16) FreeEnvironmentStringsA( env16 );
-
-    env16 = GetEnvironmentStringsA();
-    size = HeapSize(GetProcessHeap(), 0, env16);
-    new_size = size + sizeof(WORD) + sizeof(ENV_program_name);
-    if (!(env16 = HeapReAlloc( GetProcessHeap(), 0, env16, new_size ))) return 0;
-
-    memcpy(env16 + size, &one, sizeof(one));
-    memcpy(env16 + size + sizeof(WORD), ENV_program_name, sizeof(ENV_program_name));
-    if (env_sel)
-        env_sel = SELECTOR_ReallocBlock( env_sel, env16, new_size );
-    else
-        env_sel = SELECTOR_AllocBlock( env16, 0x10000, WINE_LDT_FLAGS_DATA );
-
-    return MAKESEGPTR( env_sel, 0 );
-}
 
 /***********************************************************************
  *           GetCommandLineA      (KERNEL32.@)
@@ -361,9 +297,6 @@ BOOL WINAPI SetEnvironmentVariableW( LPCWSTR name, LPCWSTR value )
         SetLastError( RtlNtStatusToDosError(status) );
         return FALSE;
     }
-
-    /* FIXME: see comments in generate_env_block16 */
-    if (env_sel) generate_env_block16();
     return TRUE;
 }
 
@@ -429,15 +362,6 @@ DWORD WINAPI ExpandEnvironmentStringsW( LPCWSTR src, LPWSTR dst, DWORD len )
 }
 
 
-/***********************************************************************
- *           GetDOSEnvironment     (KERNEL.131)
- */
-SEGPTR WINAPI GetDOSEnvironment16(void)
-{
-    return generate_env_block16();
-}
-
-
 /***********************************************************************
  *           GetStdHandle    (KERNEL32.@)
  */