diff --git a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
index 23325f49eebb..4a563b98669d 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_subprocess.py
@@ -339,6 +339,10 @@ def test_env(self):
             stdout, stderr = p.communicate()
             self.assertEqual(stdout, b"orange")
 
+    # Windows requires at least the SYSTEMROOT environment variable to start
+    # Python
+    @unittest.skipIf(sys.platform == 'win32',
+                     'cannot test an empty env on Windows')
     @unittest.skipIf(sysconfig.get_config_var('Py_ENABLE_SHARED') is not None,
                      'the python library cannot be loaded '
                      'with an empty environment')