diff --git a/src/libstd/sys/windows/c.rs b/src/libstd/sys/windows/c.rs
index 910d802f05902..7b8575f9ec4c7 100644
--- a/src/libstd/sys/windows/c.rs
+++ b/src/libstd/sys/windows/c.rs
@@ -166,6 +166,7 @@ pub const SYMLINK_FLAG_RELATIVE: DWORD = 0x00000001;
 pub const FSCTL_SET_REPARSE_POINT: DWORD = 0x900a4;
 
 pub const SYMBOLIC_LINK_FLAG_DIRECTORY: DWORD = 0x1;
+pub const SYMBOLIC_LINK_FLAG_ALLOW_UNPRIVILEGED_CREATE: DWORD = 0x2;
 
 // Note that these are not actually HANDLEs, just values to pass to GetStdHandle
 pub const STD_INPUT_HANDLE: DWORD = -10i32 as DWORD;
diff --git a/src/libstd/sys/windows/fs.rs b/src/libstd/sys/windows/fs.rs
index c410fcd1ee0ed..4efc68afdc4c7 100644
--- a/src/libstd/sys/windows/fs.rs
+++ b/src/libstd/sys/windows/fs.rs
@@ -646,9 +646,25 @@ pub fn symlink_inner(src: &Path, dst: &Path, dir: bool) -> io::Result<()> {
     let src = to_u16s(src)?;
     let dst = to_u16s(dst)?;
     let flags = if dir { c::SYMBOLIC_LINK_FLAG_DIRECTORY } else { 0 };
-    cvt(unsafe {
-        c::CreateSymbolicLinkW(dst.as_ptr(), src.as_ptr(), flags) as c::BOOL
-    })?;
+    // Formerly, symlink creation required the SeCreateSymbolicLink privilege. For the Windows 10
+    // Creators Update, Microsoft loosened this to allow unprivileged symlink creation if the
+    // computer is in Developer Mode, but SYMBOLIC_LINK_FLAG_ALLOW_UNPRIVILEGED_CREATE must be
+    // added to dwFlags to opt into this behaviour.
+    let result = cvt(unsafe {
+        c::CreateSymbolicLinkW(dst.as_ptr(), src.as_ptr(),
+                               flags | c::SYMBOLIC_LINK_FLAG_ALLOW_UNPRIVILEGED_CREATE) as c::BOOL
+    });
+    if let Err(err) = result {
+        if err.raw_os_error() == Some(c::ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER as i32) {
+            // Older Windows objects to SYMBOLIC_LINK_FLAG_ALLOW_UNPRIVILEGED_CREATE,
+            // so if we encounter ERROR_INVALID_PARAMETER, retry without that flag.
+            cvt(unsafe {
+                c::CreateSymbolicLinkW(dst.as_ptr(), src.as_ptr(), flags) as c::BOOL
+            })?;
+        } else {
+            return Err(err);
+        }
+    }
     Ok(())
 }