diff --git a/windows/INSTALL-MSVC.txt b/windows/INSTALL-MSVC.txt
index 7dd31685..17e1da18 100644
--- a/windows/INSTALL-MSVC.txt
+++ b/windows/INSTALL-MSVC.txt
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ Building
     compiler switch to link to the CRT statically, so it will not
     have any other DLL dependencies.
 
+    The VS2017 project files don't set <WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>.
+    This means that you may need to either install Windows SDK 8.1 or
+    you may need to set the target platform version before building.
+
     Currently no test programs are built or run under MSVC.
 
     MSVC gives a bunch of compiler warnings. Some warnings are specific
diff --git a/windows/vs2017/liblzma.vcxproj b/windows/vs2017/liblzma.vcxproj
index bf4748fa..32770808 100644
--- a/windows/vs2017/liblzma.vcxproj
+++ b/windows/vs2017/liblzma.vcxproj
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
   <PropertyGroup Label="Globals">
     <ProjectGuid>{12728250-16EC-4DC6-94D7-E21DD88947F8}</ProjectGuid>
     <Keyword>Win32Proj</Keyword>
-    <WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>10.0.15063.0</WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>
   </PropertyGroup>
   <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.Default.props" />
   <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'" Label="Configuration">
diff --git a/windows/vs2017/liblzma_dll.vcxproj b/windows/vs2017/liblzma_dll.vcxproj
index 228d82eb..33f3e694 100644
--- a/windows/vs2017/liblzma_dll.vcxproj
+++ b/windows/vs2017/liblzma_dll.vcxproj
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@
   <PropertyGroup Label="Globals">
     <ProjectGuid>{E0F247DB-EF12-4755-8DF9-F74BCD1348F7}</ProjectGuid>
     <Keyword>Win32Proj</Keyword>
-    <WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>10.0.15063.0</WindowsTargetPlatformVersion>
   </PropertyGroup>
   <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.Default.props" />
   <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'" Label="Configuration">