diff --git a/dlls/msi/tests/db.c b/dlls/msi/tests/db.c
index 56fa0f08e68..5e8505ad109 100644
--- a/dlls/msi/tests/db.c
+++ b/dlls/msi/tests/db.c
@@ -1933,7 +1933,7 @@ static void test_where(void)
     rec = 0;
     query = "SELECT * FROM `Media` WHERE `DiskPrompt` <> 'Cabinet'";
     r = do_query(hdb, query, &rec);
-    todo_wine ok( r == ERROR_SUCCESS, "query failed: %d\n", r );
+    ok( r == ERROR_SUCCESS, "query failed: %d\n", r );
     MsiCloseHandle( rec );
 
     rec = 0;
diff --git a/dlls/msi/where.c b/dlls/msi/where.c
index 545d6a84dc6..4c4db491474 100644
--- a/dlls/msi/where.c
+++ b/dlls/msi/where.c
@@ -397,6 +397,9 @@ static UINT WHERE_execute( struct tagMSIVIEW *view, MSIRECORD *record )
         return ERROR_OUTOFMEMORY;
 
     wv->row_count = 0;
+
+if (0) /* disable optimization, there's no guarantee that strings are in the string table */
+{
     if (wv->cond->type == EXPR_STRCMP)
     {
         MSIITERHANDLE handle = NULL;
@@ -441,6 +444,7 @@ static UINT WHERE_execute( struct tagMSIVIEW *view, MSIRECORD *record )
         }
         /* else fallback to slow case */
     }
+}
 
     for( i=0; i<count; i++ )
     {