diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2020-05-17-03-33-00.bpo-40653.WI8UGn.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2020-05-17-03-33-00.bpo-40653.WI8UGn.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..1e6c5cb32b722a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2020-05-17-03-33-00.bpo-40653.WI8UGn.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Move _dirnameW out of HAVE_SYMLINK to fix a potential compiling issue.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Modules/posixmodule.c b/Modules/posixmodule.c
index 977e49f432a344..43d4302b92de75 100644
--- a/Modules/posixmodule.c
+++ b/Modules/posixmodule.c
@@ -7301,8 +7301,6 @@ win_readlink(PyObject *self, PyObject *args, PyObject *kwargs)
 
 
 
-#ifdef HAVE_SYMLINK
-
 #if defined(MS_WINDOWS)
 
 /* Grab CreateSymbolicLinkW dynamically from kernel32 */
@@ -7341,6 +7339,12 @@ _dirnameW(WCHAR *path)
     return 0;
 }
 
+#endif
+
+#ifdef HAVE_SYMLINK
+
+#if defined(MS_WINDOWS)
+
 /* Is this path absolute? */
 static int
 _is_absW(const WCHAR *path)