diff --git a/library/std/src/process/tests.rs b/library/std/src/process/tests.rs
index 05e093434be1b..bc71c150550a4 100644
--- a/library/std/src/process/tests.rs
+++ b/library/std/src/process/tests.rs
@@ -399,3 +399,12 @@ fn test_command_implements_send_sync() {
     fn take_send_sync_type<T: Send + Sync>(_: T) {}
     take_send_sync_type(Command::new(""))
 }
+
+// Ensure that starting a process with no environment variables works on Windows.
+// This will fail if the environment block is ill-formed.
+#[test]
+#[cfg(windows)]
+fn env_empty() {
+    let p = Command::new("cmd").args(&["/C", "exit 0"]).env_clear().spawn();
+    assert!(p.is_ok());
+}
diff --git a/library/std/src/sys/windows/process.rs b/library/std/src/sys/windows/process.rs
index 81dbea4a06739..14de2530842f8 100644
--- a/library/std/src/sys/windows/process.rs
+++ b/library/std/src/sys/windows/process.rs
@@ -530,6 +530,12 @@ fn make_envp(maybe_env: Option<BTreeMap<EnvKey, OsString>>) -> io::Result<(*mut
     if let Some(env) = maybe_env {
         let mut blk = Vec::new();
 
+        // If there are no environment variables to set then signal this by
+        // pushing a null.
+        if env.is_empty() {
+            blk.push(0);
+        }
+
         for (k, v) in env {
             blk.extend(ensure_no_nuls(k.0)?.encode_wide());
             blk.push('=' as u16);