diff --git a/src/rxgen/rpc_main.c b/src/rxgen/rpc_main.c
index facdba9420..3fc2a076f4 100644
--- a/src/rxgen/rpc_main.c
+++ b/src/rxgen/rpc_main.c
@@ -94,11 +94,15 @@ char xflag = 0;			/* if set, add stats code to stubs */
 char yflag = 0;			/* if set, only emit function name arrays to xdr file */
 int debug = 0;
 static char *cmdname;
+#ifdef AFS_NT40_ENV
+static char *CPP = NULL;
+#else /* AFS_NT40_ENV */
 #ifdef	__PROG_CPP__
 static char CPP[] = __PROG_CPP__;
 #else
 static char CPP[] = "/lib/cpp";
 #endif
+#endif /* AFS_NT40_ENV */
 static char CPPFLAGS[] = "-C";
 
 #ifdef	AFS_ALPHA_ENV
@@ -144,16 +148,14 @@ int
 main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
     struct commandline cmd;
-#ifdef AFS_NT40_ENV
-    char *ep;
 
-    /* initialize CPP with the correct pre-processor on NT */
-    ep = getenv("RXGEN_CPPCMD");
-    if (ep)
-	strcpy(CPP, ep);
-    else
-	strcpy(CPP, "cl /EP /C /nologo");
-#endif
+#ifdef AFS_NT40_ENV
+    /* initialize CPP with the correct pre-processor for Windows */
+    CPP = getenv("RXGEN_CPPCMD");
+    if (!CPP)
+	CPP = "cl /EP /C /nologo";
+#endif /* AFS_NT40_ENV */
+    
 #ifdef	AFS_AIX32_ENV
     /*
      * The following signal action for AIX is necessary so that in case of a