diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 41f897a24..8ded4d976 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ release 0.14.9
 	* fixed optimistic unchoke timer
 	* fixed bug where torrents with incorrectly formatted web seed URLs would be
 	  connected multiple times
+	* fixed MinGW support
 
 release 0.14.8
 
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/bencode.hpp b/include/libtorrent/bencode.hpp
index 42772d2cc..303019966 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/bencode.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/bencode.hpp
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 				++in; // 'e' 
 				ret = entry(entry::int_t);
 				char* end_pointer;
-#ifdef TORRENT_WINDOWS
+#if defined TORRENT_WINDOWS && !defined TORRENT_MINGW
 				ret.integer() = _strtoi64(val.c_str(), &end_pointer, 10);
 #else
 				ret.integer() = strtoll(val.c_str(), &end_pointer, 10);
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/config.hpp b/include/libtorrent/config.hpp
index 44aebeb01..5998f40d1 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/config.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/config.hpp
@@ -129,8 +129,13 @@ POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 // ==== LINUX ===
 #elif defined __linux__
 #define TORRENT_LINUX
+
+// ==== MINGW ===
 #elif defined __MINGW32__
 #define TORRENT_MINGW
+#define TORRENT_WINDOWS
+#define TORRENT_USE_ICONV 0
+#define TORRENT_USE_RLIMIT 0
 
 // ==== WINDOWS ===
 #elif defined WIN32
@@ -139,6 +144,7 @@ POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 // apple uses utf-8 as its locale, so no conversion
 // is necessary
 #define TORRENT_USE_ICONV 0
+#define TORRENT_USE_RLIMIT 0
 
 // ==== SOLARIS ===
 #elif defined sun || defined __sun 
@@ -192,7 +198,7 @@ POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
 #endif
 
-#ifdef TORRENT_WINDOWS
+#if defined TORRENT_WINDOWS && !defined TORRENT_MINGW
 
 // class X needs to have dll-interface to be used by clients of class Y
 #pragma warning(disable:4251)
@@ -248,6 +254,10 @@ inline int snprintf(char* buf, int len, char const* fmt, ...)
 #define TORRENT_DEPRECATED
 #endif
 
+#ifndef TORRENT_USE_RLIMIT
+#define TORRENT_USE_RLIMIT 1
+#endif
+
 #ifndef TORRENT_USE_IPV6
 #define TORRENT_USE_IPV6 1
 #endif
@@ -303,7 +313,7 @@ inline int snprintf(char* buf, int len, char const* fmt, ...)
 
 #if defined(__MACH__)
 #define TORRENT_USE_ABSOLUTE_TIME 1
-#elif defined(_WIN32)
+#elif defined(_WIN32) || defined TORRENT_MINGW
 #define TORRENT_USE_QUERY_PERFORMANCE_TIMER 1
 #elif defined(_POSIX_MONOTONIC_CLOCK) && _POSIX_MONOTONIC_CLOCK >= 0
 #define TORRENT_USE_CLOCK_GETTIME 1
diff --git a/include/libtorrent/utf8.hpp b/include/libtorrent/utf8.hpp
index a75af94c1..ae8f2a59d 100644
--- a/include/libtorrent/utf8.hpp
+++ b/include/libtorrent/utf8.hpp
@@ -35,7 +35,9 @@ POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
 #include "libtorrent/config.hpp"
 
-#if TORRENT_USE_WSTRING
+// on windows we need these functions for
+// convert_to_native and convert_from_native
+#if TORRENT_USE_WSTRING || defined TORRENT_WINDOWS
 
 #include <string>
 #include <cwchar>
diff --git a/src/escape_string.cpp b/src/escape_string.cpp
index e234132e7..fbb5af5fe 100644
--- a/src/escape_string.cpp
+++ b/src/escape_string.cpp
@@ -547,7 +547,7 @@ namespace libtorrent
 		return true;
 	}
 
-#if defined TORRENT_WINDOWS && defined UNICODE
+#if defined TORRENT_WINDOWS && TORRENT_USE_WSTRING && defined UNICODE
 	std::wstring convert_to_wstring(std::string const& s)
 	{
 		std::wstring ret;
diff --git a/src/file.cpp b/src/file.cpp
index f62b312b2..a649dff6d 100644
--- a/src/file.cpp
+++ b/src/file.cpp
@@ -1504,6 +1504,11 @@ namespace libtorrent
 #ifdef TORRENT_WINDOWS
 		// according to MSDN, clearing the sparse flag of a file only
 		// works on windows vista and later
+#ifdef TORRENT_MINGW
+typedef struct _FILE_SET_SPARSE_BUFFER {
+	    BOOLEAN SetSparse;
+} FILE_SET_SPARSE_BUFFER, *PFILE_SET_SPARSE_BUFFER;
+#endif
 		DWORD temp;
 		FILE_SET_SPARSE_BUFFER b;
 		b.SetSparse = FALSE;
@@ -1536,6 +1541,13 @@ namespace libtorrent
 	size_type file::sparse_end(size_type start) const
 	{
 #ifdef TORRENT_WINDOWS
+#ifdef TORRENT_MINGW
+typedef struct _FILE_ALLOCATED_RANGE_BUFFER {
+	LARGE_INTEGER FileOffset;
+	LARGE_INTEGER Length;
+} FILE_ALLOCATED_RANGE_BUFFER, *PFILE_ALLOCATED_RANGE_BUFFER;
+#define FSCTL_QUERY_ALLOCATED_RANGES ((0x9 << 16) | (1 << 14) | (51 << 2) | 3)
+#endif
 		FILE_ALLOCATED_RANGE_BUFFER buffer;
 		DWORD bytes_returned = 0;
 		FILE_ALLOCATED_RANGE_BUFFER in;
diff --git a/src/session_impl.cpp b/src/session_impl.cpp
index 01e7a0b80..cbe41100c 100644
--- a/src/session_impl.cpp
+++ b/src/session_impl.cpp
@@ -1185,6 +1185,10 @@ namespace aux {
 		{
 			s.sock->set_option(v6only(v6_only), ec);
 #ifdef TORRENT_WINDOWS
+
+#ifndef PROTECTION_LEVEL_UNRESTRICTED
+#define PROTECTION_LEVEL_UNRESTRICTED 10
+#endif
 			// enable Teredo on windows
 			s.sock->set_option(v6_protection_level(PROTECTION_LEVEL_UNRESTRICTED), ec);
 #endif
@@ -3446,7 +3450,7 @@ namespace aux {
 		if (limit <= 0)
 		{
 			limit = (std::numeric_limits<int>::max)();
-#ifndef TORRENT_WINDOWS
+#if TORRENT_USE_RLIMIT
 			rlimit l;
 			if (getrlimit(RLIMIT_NOFILE, &l) == 0
 				&& l.rlim_cur != RLIM_INFINITY)