diff --git a/unittests/CMakeLists.txt b/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
index a5a91ae30..3212fb488 100644
--- a/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/unittests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -3,16 +3,30 @@ file(GLOB TESTS RELATIVE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} *.cpp)
 # A semi-colon separated list of test sources that should not be automatically built with doctest 
 set(SPECIAL_TESTS "portability_test.cpp")
 
-# Build the portability test only if we are on a 64-bit machine (void* is 8 bytes)
-if((${CMAKE_SIZEOF_VOID_P} EQUAL 8) AND (NOT SKIP_PORTABILITY_TEST))
-  add_executable(portability_test32 portability_test.cpp)
-  set_target_properties(portability_test32 PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "-m32")
-  set_target_properties(portability_test32 PROPERTIES LINK_FLAGS "-m32")
+if(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_LESS 2.8)
+  # Portability test uses the `TARGET_FILE_DIR` generator expression which is available from CMake 2.8.
+  set(SKIP_PORTABILITY_TEST ON)
+endif()
+
+if(NOT SKIP_PORTABILITY_TEST)
+  # Build the portability test only if we are on a 64-bit machine (void* is 8 bytes)
+  if((${CMAKE_SIZEOF_VOID_P} EQUAL 8))
+    if(NOT MSVC)
+      add_executable(portability_test32 portability_test.cpp)
+      set_target_properties(portability_test32 PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "-m32")
+      set_target_properties(portability_test32 PROPERTIES LINK_FLAGS "-m32")
+    endif()
 
-  add_executable(portability_test64 portability_test.cpp)
+    add_executable(portability_test64 portability_test.cpp)
 
-  add_test(NAME portability_test COMMAND "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/run_portability_test.sh")
+    add_test(NAME portability_test
+            COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND}
+              -DPORTABILITY_TEST_DIR=$<TARGET_FILE_DIR:portability_test64>
+            -P "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/run_portability_test.cmake")
 
+  elseif(MSVC)
+    add_executable(portability_test32 portability_test.cpp)
+  endif()
 endif()
 
 # Build all of the non-special tests
diff --git a/unittests/run_portability_test.cmake b/unittests/run_portability_test.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2841e6c35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/unittests/run_portability_test.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+macro(EXEC_CMD_CHECK)
+  message("running ${ARGN}")
+  execute_process(COMMAND ${ARGN} RESULT_VARIABLE CMD_RESULT)
+  if(CMD_RESULT)
+    message(FATAL_ERROR "Error running ${ARGN}")
+  endif()
+endmacro()
+
+set(PORTABILITY_TEST_32 "${PORTABILITY_TEST_DIR}/portability_test32")
+set(PORTABILITY_TEST_64 "${PORTABILITY_TEST_DIR}/portability_test64")
+
+exec_cmd_check(${PORTABILITY_TEST_64} save 64)
+exec_cmd_check(${PORTABILITY_TEST_32} load 32)
+exec_cmd_check(${PORTABILITY_TEST_32} save 32)
+exec_cmd_check(${PORTABILITY_TEST_64} load 64)
+exec_cmd_check(${PORTABILITY_TEST_64} remove 64)
diff --git a/unittests/run_portability_test.sh b/unittests/run_portability_test.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 718440284..000000000
--- a/unittests/run_portability_test.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-set -e
-
-./portability_test64 save 64
-./portability_test32 load 32
-./portability_test32 save 32
-./portability_test64 load 64
-./portability_test64 remove 64