diff -urN a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
--- a/configure.ac	2014-10-11 14:20:16.937702700 +0100
+++ b/configure.ac	2014-10-11 14:20:19.747863400 +0100
@@ -3621,21 +3621,36 @@
 ],[])
 AC_MSG_RESULT($was_it_defined)
 
+AC_CHECK_HEADERS([ws2tcpip.h])
 AC_MSG_CHECKING(for addrinfo)
 AC_CACHE_VAL(ac_cv_struct_addrinfo,
-AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[#include <netdb.h>]], [[struct addrinfo a]])],
+AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[
+#ifdef HAVE_WS2TCPIP_H
+#  include <ws2tcpip.h>
+#else
+#  include <netdb.h>
+#endif]],
+    [[struct addrinfo a]])],
   [ac_cv_struct_addrinfo=yes],
   [ac_cv_struct_addrinfo=no]))
 AC_MSG_RESULT($ac_cv_struct_addrinfo)
 if test $ac_cv_struct_addrinfo = yes; then
-	AC_DEFINE(HAVE_ADDRINFO, 1, [struct addrinfo (netdb.h)])
+	AC_DEFINE(HAVE_ADDRINFO, 1, [struct addrinfo])
 fi
 
 AC_MSG_CHECKING(for sockaddr_storage)
 AC_CACHE_VAL(ac_cv_struct_sockaddr_storage,
 AC_COMPILE_IFELSE([AC_LANG_PROGRAM([[
-#		include <sys/types.h>
-#		include <sys/socket.h>]], [[struct sockaddr_storage s]])],
+#ifdef HAVE_WS2TCPIP_H
+#include <ws2tcpip.h>
+#endif
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#endif
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_SOCKET_H
+#include <sys/socket.h>
+#endif]],
+    [[struct sockaddr_storage s]])],
   [ac_cv_struct_sockaddr_storage=yes],
   [ac_cv_struct_sockaddr_storage=no]))
 AC_MSG_RESULT($ac_cv_struct_sockaddr_storage)
@@ -4821,7 +4836,10 @@
 
 AC_CHECK_TYPE(socklen_t,,
   AC_DEFINE(socklen_t,int,
-            [Define to `int' if <sys/socket.h> does not define.]),[
+            [Define to `int' if <sys/socket.h> or <ws2tcpip.h> does not define.]),[
+#ifdef HAVE_WS2TCPIP_H
+#include <ws2tcpip.h>
+#endif
 #ifdef HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #endif
diff -urN a/Misc/config_mingw b/Misc/config_mingw
--- a/Misc/config_mingw	2014-10-11 14:20:17.566738600 +0100
+++ b/Misc/config_mingw	2014-10-11 14:20:19.748863500 +0100
@@ -10,3 +10,6 @@
 # files to ignore
 ac_cv_file__dev_ptmx=ignore #NOTE: under MSYS environment device exist
 ac_cv_file__dev_ptc=no
+
+# force detection of winsock2 functionality - require wxp or newer
+ac_cv_func_getpeername=yes
diff -urN a/Modules/socketmodule.c b/Modules/socketmodule.c
--- a/Modules/socketmodule.c	2014-10-11 14:20:17.822753300 +0100
+++ b/Modules/socketmodule.c	2014-10-11 14:20:19.751863600 +0100
@@ -306,6 +306,12 @@
   /* Do not include addrinfo.h for MSVC7 or greater. 'addrinfo' and
    * EAI_* constants are defined in (the already included) ws2tcpip.h.
    */
+#elif defined(__MINGW32__)
+  /* Do not include addrinfo.h as minimum supported version is
+   * _WIN32_WINNT >= WindowsXP(0x0501)
+   */
+#  define HAVE_GETADDRINFO
+#  define HAVE_GETNAMEINFO
 #else
 #  include "addrinfo.h"
 #endif
diff -urN a/pyconfig.h.in b/pyconfig.h.in
--- a/pyconfig.h.in	2014-10-11 14:20:17.492734400 +0100
+++ b/pyconfig.h.in	2014-10-11 14:20:19.752863700 +0100
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@
 /* Define to 1 if you have the `acosh' function. */
 #undef HAVE_ACOSH
 
-/* struct addrinfo (netdb.h) */
+/* struct addrinfo */
 #undef HAVE_ADDRINFO
 
 /* Define to 1 if you have the `alarm' function. */
@@ -1149,6 +1149,9 @@
 /* Define to 1 if you have the `writev' function. */
 #undef HAVE_WRITEV
 
+/* Define to 1 if you have the <ws2tcpip.h> header file. */
+#undef HAVE_WS2TCPIP_H
+
 /* Define if the zlib library has inflateCopy */
 #undef HAVE_ZLIB_COPY
 
@@ -1481,7 +1484,7 @@
 /* Define to `unsigned int' if <sys/types.h> does not define. */
 #undef size_t
 
-/* Define to `int' if <sys/socket.h> does not define. */
+/* Define to `int' if <sys/socket.h> or <ws2tcpip.h> does not define. */
 #undef socklen_t
 
 /* Define to `int' if <sys/types.h> doesn't define. */
diff -urN a/setup.py b/setup.py
--- a/setup.py	2014-10-11 14:20:18.052766400 +0100
+++ b/setup.py	2014-10-11 14:20:19.754863800 +0100
@@ -762,7 +762,11 @@
         exts.append( Extension('_posixsubprocess', ['_posixsubprocess.c']) )
 
         # socket(2)
+        socket_libs = []
+        if host_platform.startswith(('mingw', 'win')):
+            socket_libs += ['ws2_32']
         exts.append( Extension('_socket', ['socketmodule.c'],
+                               libraries = socket_libs,
                                depends = ['socketmodule.h']) )
         # Detect SSL support for the socket module (via _ssl)
         search_for_ssl_incs_in = [