diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 632d4462891..c4a1cf17738 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -75,6 +75,16 @@ Tests
 Windows
 -------
 
+- Boosted the stack reservation for python.exe and pythonw.exe from
+  the default 1MB to 2MB.  Stack frames under VC 7.1 for 2.4 are enough
+  bigger than under VC 6.0 for 2.3.4 that deeply recursive progams
+  within the default sys.getrecursionlimit() default value of 1000 were
+  able to suffer undetected C stack overflows.  The standard test program
+  test_compiler was one such program.  If a Python process on Windows
+  "just vanishes" without a trace, and without an error message of any
+  kind, but with an exit code of 128, undetected stack overflow may be
+  the problem.
+
 Mac
 ---
 
diff --git a/PCbuild/python.vcproj b/PCbuild/python.vcproj
index 0c3c4b6b42a..722bf4344cc 100644
--- a/PCbuild/python.vcproj
+++ b/PCbuild/python.vcproj
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 				GenerateDebugInformation="TRUE"
 				ProgramDatabaseFile=".\./python.pdb"
 				SubSystem="1"
+				StackReserveSize="2000000"
 				BaseAddress="0x1d000000"
 				TargetMachine="1"/>
 			<Tool
@@ -109,6 +110,7 @@
 				GenerateDebugInformation="TRUE"
 				ProgramDatabaseFile=".\./python_d.pdb"
 				SubSystem="1"
+				StackReserveSize="2000000"
 				BaseAddress="0x1d000000"
 				TargetMachine="1"/>
 			<Tool
@@ -179,6 +181,7 @@
 				GenerateDebugInformation="TRUE"
 				ProgramDatabaseFile=".\./python.pdb"
 				SubSystem="1"
+				StackReserveSize="2000000"
 				BaseAddress="0x1d000000"
 				TargetMachine="0"/>
 			<Tool
diff --git a/PCbuild/pythonw.vcproj b/PCbuild/pythonw.vcproj
index 0eab69062df..1ac107a15a3 100644
--- a/PCbuild/pythonw.vcproj
+++ b/PCbuild/pythonw.vcproj
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 				GenerateDebugInformation="TRUE"
 				ProgramDatabaseFile=".\./pythonw_d.pdb"
 				SubSystem="2"
+				StackReserveSize="2000000"
 				BaseAddress="0x1d000000"
 				TargetMachine="1"/>
 			<Tool
@@ -108,6 +109,7 @@
 				GenerateDebugInformation="TRUE"
 				ProgramDatabaseFile=".\./pythonw.pdb"
 				SubSystem="2"
+				StackReserveSize="2000000"
 				BaseAddress="0x1d000000"
 				TargetMachine="1"/>
 			<Tool
@@ -179,6 +181,7 @@
 				GenerateDebugInformation="TRUE"
 				ProgramDatabaseFile=".\./pythonw.pdb"
 				SubSystem="2"
+				StackReserveSize="2000000"
 				BaseAddress="0x1d000000"
 				TargetMachine="0"/>
 			<Tool