diff --git a/build_msvc/libbitcoin_server/libbitcoin_server.vcxproj.in b/build_msvc/libbitcoin_server/libbitcoin_server.vcxproj.in
index acb827bd9524a..913f3c35da99f 100644
--- a/build_msvc/libbitcoin_server/libbitcoin_server.vcxproj.in
+++ b/build_msvc/libbitcoin_server/libbitcoin_server.vcxproj.in
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@
       <PrecompiledHeader>NotUsing</PrecompiledHeader>
       <WarningLevel>Level3</WarningLevel>
       <Optimization>Disabled</Optimization>
-      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32;HAVE_CONFIG_H;_SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_DEBUG;_CONSOLE;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
+      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32;HAVE_CONFIG_H;_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_DEBUG;_CONSOLE;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <SDLCheck>true</SDLCheck>
       <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>..\..\src;..\..\src\univalue\include;..\..\src\leveldb\include;..\..\src\leveldb\helpers\memenv;</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
       <RuntimeLibrary>MultiThreadedDebug</RuntimeLibrary>
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@
       <PrecompiledHeader>NotUsing</PrecompiledHeader>
       <WarningLevel>Level3</WarningLevel>
       <Optimization>Disabled</Optimization>
-      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32;HAVE_CONFIG_H;_SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;WIN32;_DEBUG;_CONSOLE;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
+      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32;HAVE_CONFIG_H;_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;WIN32;_DEBUG;_CONSOLE;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <SDLCheck>true</SDLCheck>
       <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>..\..\src;..\..\src\univalue\include;..\..\src\leveldb\include;..\..\src\leveldb\helpers\memenv;</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
       <RuntimeLibrary>MultiThreadedDebug</RuntimeLibrary>
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@
       <Optimization>MaxSpeed</Optimization>
       <FunctionLevelLinking>true</FunctionLevelLinking>
       <IntrinsicFunctions>true</IntrinsicFunctions>
-      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32;HAVE_CONFIG_H;_SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_CONSOLE;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
+      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32;HAVE_CONFIG_H;_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_CONSOLE;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <SDLCheck>true</SDLCheck>
       <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>..\..\src;..\..\src\univalue\include;..\..\src\leveldb\include;..\..\src\leveldb\helpers\memenv;</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
       <RuntimeLibrary>MultiThreaded</RuntimeLibrary>
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@
       <Optimization>MaxSpeed</Optimization>
       <FunctionLevelLinking>true</FunctionLevelLinking>
       <IntrinsicFunctions>true</IntrinsicFunctions>
-      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32;HAVE_CONFIG_H;_SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_CONSOLE;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
+      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32;HAVE_CONFIG_H;_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_SCL_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_CONSOLE;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <SDLCheck>true</SDLCheck>
       <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>..\..\src;..\..\src\univalue\include;..\..\src\leveldb\include;..\..\src\leveldb\helpers\memenv;</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
       <RuntimeLibrary>MultiThreaded</RuntimeLibrary>
diff --git a/src/init.cpp b/src/init.cpp
index caab4a5674d86..9ba9b2803a7ac 100644
--- a/src/init.cpp
+++ b/src/init.cpp
@@ -97,7 +97,6 @@ static const char* FEE_ESTIMATES_FILENAME="fee_estimates.dat";
 /**
  * The PID file facilities.
  */
-#ifndef WIN32
 static const char* BITCOIN_PID_FILENAME = "bitcoind.pid";
 
 static fs::path GetPidFile()
@@ -109,14 +108,17 @@ NODISCARD static bool CreatePidFile()
 {
     FILE* file = fsbridge::fopen(GetPidFile(), "w");
     if (file) {
+#ifdef WIN32
+        fprintf(file, "%d\n", GetCurrentProcessId());
+#else
         fprintf(file, "%d\n", getpid());
+#endif
         fclose(file);
         return true;
     } else {
         return InitError(strprintf(_("Unable to create the PID file '%s': %s"), GetPidFile().string(), std::strerror(errno)));
     }
 }
-#endif
 
 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 //
@@ -286,15 +288,13 @@ void Shutdown(InitInterfaces& interfaces)
     }
 #endif
 
-#ifndef WIN32
     try {
         if (!fs::remove(GetPidFile())) {
             LogPrintf("%s: Unable to remove PID file: File does not exist\n", __func__);
         }
     } catch (const fs::filesystem_error& e) {
-        LogPrintf("%s: Unable to remove PID file: %s\n", __func__, e.what());
+        LogPrintf("%s: Unable to remove PID file: %s\n", __func__, fsbridge::get_filesystem_error_message(e));
     }
-#endif
     interfaces.chain_clients.clear();
     UnregisterAllValidationInterfaces();
     GetMainSignals().UnregisterBackgroundSignalScheduler();
@@ -392,11 +392,7 @@ void SetupServerArgs()
     gArgs.AddArg("-par=<n>", strprintf("Set the number of script verification threads (%u to %d, 0 = auto, <0 = leave that many cores free, default: %d)",
         -GetNumCores(), MAX_SCRIPTCHECK_THREADS, DEFAULT_SCRIPTCHECK_THREADS), false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
     gArgs.AddArg("-persistmempool", strprintf("Whether to save the mempool on shutdown and load on restart (default: %u)", DEFAULT_PERSIST_MEMPOOL), false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
-#ifndef WIN32
     gArgs.AddArg("-pid=<file>", strprintf("Specify pid file. Relative paths will be prefixed by a net-specific datadir location. (default: %s)", BITCOIN_PID_FILENAME), false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
-#else
-    hidden_args.emplace_back("-pid");
-#endif
     gArgs.AddArg("-prune=<n>", strprintf("Reduce storage requirements by enabling pruning (deleting) of old blocks. This allows the pruneblockchain RPC to be called to delete specific blocks, and enables automatic pruning of old blocks if a target size in MiB is provided. This mode is incompatible with -txindex and -rescan. "
             "Warning: Reverting this setting requires re-downloading the entire blockchain. "
             "(default: 0 = disable pruning blocks, 1 = allow manual pruning via RPC, >=%u = automatically prune block files to stay under the specified target size in MiB)", MIN_DISK_SPACE_FOR_BLOCK_FILES / 1024 / 1024), false, OptionsCategory::OPTIONS);
@@ -1228,12 +1224,10 @@ bool AppInitMain(InitInterfaces& interfaces)
 {
     const CChainParams& chainparams = Params();
     // ********************************************************* Step 4a: application initialization
-#ifndef WIN32
     if (!CreatePidFile()) {
         // Detailed error printed inside CreatePidFile().
         return false;
     }
-#endif
     if (LogInstance().m_print_to_file) {
         if (gArgs.GetBoolArg("-shrinkdebugfile", LogInstance().DefaultShrinkDebugFile())) {
             // Do this first since it both loads a bunch of debug.log into memory,