diff --git a/cmake/platform/windows.cmake b/cmake/platform/windows.cmake
index 5fca89b57..35e61be15 100644
--- a/cmake/platform/windows.cmake
+++ b/cmake/platform/windows.cmake
@@ -9,16 +9,34 @@ if(NOT DEFINED BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
 endif()
 
 # Windows/cmake make things difficult if building dll's. 
-# These use RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY (aka bin) and can't be 
-# distinguished from exe's. We want exe output directory to be
-# in the package's local folder (see catkin_project) - but dlls 
-# to be public - ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin.
-# 
-# This is an awful hack - we want to move away from redefining
+# By default:
+#   .dll -> CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
+#   .exe -> CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
+#   .lib -> CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY
+#
+# Subsequently, .dll's and .exe's use the same variable and by 
+# default must be installed to the same place. Which is not
+# what we want for catkin. We wish:
+#
+#   .dll -> CATKIN_GLOBAL_BIN_DESTINATION
+#   .exe -> CATKIN_PACKAGE_BIN_DESTINATION
+#   .lib -> CATKIN_PACKAGE_LIB_DESTINATION
+#
+# Since we can't put CMAKE_RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY to
+# two values at once, we have this ugly workaround here.
+#
+# Note - we want to move away from redefining
 # add_library style calls, but necessary until a better solution
 # is available for windows. Alternatives are to set_target_properties
 # on every lib (painful) or to make exe's public (name conflicts
 # bound to arise).
+#
+# Another feature that would be desirable, is to install .pdb's for
+# debugging along with the library. Can't do that here as we do not
+# know for sure if the library target is intended for installation
+# or not. Might a good idea to have a script that searches for all
+# pdb's under CATKIN_DEVEL_PREFIX and copies them over at the end
+# of the cmake build.
 if(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
   if(WIN32)
     function(add_library library)
@@ -26,28 +44,13 @@ if(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
       list(FIND ARGN "IMPORTED" FIND_POS)
       _add_library(${ARGV0} ${ARGN})
       if(${FIND_POS} EQUAL -1)
-        # It is not imported, add our custom copy rule
-        add_custom_command(TARGET ${ARGV0} POST_BUILD
-          #cmake -E copy_if_different ${ARGV0}.dll ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin # Doesn't handle regexp, i.e. dll*
-          # uglier than above, but bruce force copies all the windows rubbish as well (.pdb, .manifest, .txt etc).
-          COMMAND if exist "${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}/bin/${ARGV0}.dll" ( cp bin/${ARGV0}* ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin )
-          WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR})
-        # Quite likely, linux guys hacking packages will not think to set the runtime destination to bin
-        # for dll's and this will create a huge headache in porting. Just do it here for now.
-        # From cmake docs - 'Installing a target with EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL set to true has undefined behavior.'
-        get_target_property(${ARGV0}_EXCLUDE_FROM_INSTALL ${ARGV0} EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL)
-        if(NOT ${${ARGV0}_EXCLUDE_FROM_INSTALL})
-          install(TARGETS ${ARGV0}
-            RUNTIME DESTINATION bin
-            ARCHIVE DESTINATION lib
-            LIBRARY DESTINATION lib)
-          if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL "Release")
-            install(FILES ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/bin/${ARGV0}.pdb DESTINATION bin)
-          endif() 
-        endif()
+        set_target_properties(${ARGV0} 
+          PROPERTIES 
+              RUNTIME_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CATKIN_DEVEL_PREFIX}/${CATKIN_GLOBAL_BIN_DESTINATION}
+              LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CATKIN_DEVEL_PREFIX}/${CATKIN_PACKAGE_LIB_DESTINATION}
+              ARCHIVE_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY ${CATKIN_DEVEL_PREFIX}/${CATKIN_PACKAGE_LIB_DESTINATION}
+        )
       endif()
     endfunction()
-    # Almost impossible to do the same as above to install .pdb's for exe's as we do not know their 
-    # runtime destinations. Sometimes the runtime destination is bin, sometimes it is _pkg_name_/bin.
   endif()
 endif()