diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/visual-c++/builder.sh b/pkgs/development/compilers/visual-c++/builder.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..fe90f77c23ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/visual-c++/builder.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+source $stdenv/setup
+
+ensureDir $out
+cat > $out/setup  <<EOF
+export PATH="$vs8Path/VC/bin:$vs8Path/Common7/IDE:$sdkPath/bin:$PATH"
+export LIB="$(cygpath -w -p "$vs8Path/VC/lib:$sdkPath/lib")"
+export INCLUDE="$(cygpath -w -p "$sdkPath/include:$sdkPath/include/crt")"
+EOF
diff --git a/pkgs/development/compilers/visual-c++/default.nix b/pkgs/development/compilers/visual-c++/default.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..efae5799b2f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/compilers/visual-c++/default.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+{stdenv, fetchurl}:
+
+assert stdenv.system == "i686-cygwin";
+
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+  # Derived from Visual C++ 2005 (= VC 8), followed by cl.exe's
+  # internal version number.
+  name = "visual-c++-8-14.00.50727.42";
+  builder = ./builder.sh;
+
+  # These should be downloaded eventually.
+  vs8Path = "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Microsoft Visual Studio 8";
+  sdkPath = "/cygdrive/c/Program Files/Microsoft Platform SDK";
+}
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 51d037aa13f4..e449ec70215d 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -828,12 +828,18 @@ rec {
     inherit fetchurl stdenv;
   };
 
+  visualcpp = import ../development/compilers/visual-c++ {
+    inherit fetchurl stdenv;
+  };
+
+
   ### DEVELOPMENT / DEBUGGERS
 
   #ltrace = (import ../development/debuggers/ltrace) {
   #  inherit fetchurl stdenv;
   #};
 
+
   ### DEVELOPMENT / INTERPRETERS
 
   happy = (import ../development/tools/parsing/happy) {