diff --git a/Lib/distutils/_msvccompiler.py b/Lib/distutils/_msvccompiler.py
index af8099a4078192..8b9ab4fb80524d 100644
--- a/Lib/distutils/_msvccompiler.py
+++ b/Lib/distutils/_msvccompiler.py
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ def _get_vc_env(plat_spec):
 
     try:
         out = subprocess.check_output(
-            'cmd /u /c "{}" {} && set'.format(vcvarsall, plat_spec),
+            'cmd /u /k "{}" {} && set && exit'.format(vcvarsall, plat_spec),
             stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
         ).decode('utf-16le', errors='replace')
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError as exc: