diff --git a/.appveyor.yml b/.appveyor.yml
index 626eeb3c4..a2dbcb826 100644
--- a/.appveyor.yml
+++ b/.appveyor.yml
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ environment:
   - TOOLCHAIN: 14.0
   - APPVEYOR_BUILD_WORKER_IMAGE: Visual Studio 2017
     TOOLCHAIN: 2017
+  - APPVEYOR_BUILD_WORKER_IMAGE: Visual Studio 2019
+    TOOLCHAIN: 2019
   - TOOLCHAIN: mingw
     APPVEYOR_BUILD_WORKER_IMAGE: Visual Studio 2015
 
@@ -76,6 +78,20 @@ build_script:
 test_script:
   - cmd: .ci/appveyor-make.bat runtests
 
+
+#---------------------------------#
+#         debugging               #
+#---------------------------------#
+
+## if you want to connect by remote desktop to a failed build, uncomment these lines
+## note that you will need to connect within the usual build timeout limit (60 minutes)
+## so you may want to adjust the build matrix above to just build the one of interest
+
+#on_failure:
+#  - ps: iex ((new-object net.webclient).DownloadString('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/appveyor/ci/master/scripts/enable-rdp.ps1'))
+#  - ps: $blockRdp = $true; iex ((new-object net.webclient).DownloadString('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/appveyor/ci/master/scripts/enable-rdp.ps1'))
+
+
 #---------------------------------#
 #         notifications           #
 #---------------------------------#
diff --git a/.ci/appveyor-make.bat b/.ci/appveyor-make.bat
index 8d976d93d..eb127c5ce 100644
--- a/.ci/appveyor-make.bat
+++ b/.ci/appveyor-make.bat
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 :: Universal build script for AppVeyor (https://ci.appveyor.com/)
 :: Environment:
-::     TOOLCHAIN      -  toolchain version   [10.0/11.0/12.0/14.0/2017/mingw]
+::     TOOLCHAIN      -  toolchain version   [10.0/11.0/12.0/14.0/2017/2019/mingw]
 ::     CONFIGURATION  -  determines EPICS build   [dynamic/static]
 ::     PLATFORM       -  architecture   [x86/x64]
 ::
@@ -8,13 +8,21 @@
 
 Setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
 
+:: we do not currently have a combined static and debug EPICS_HOST_ARCH target
+:: So a combined debug and static target will appear to be just static
+:: but debug will have been specified in CONFIG_SITE by appveyor-prepare.bat
 set "ST="
-if /i "%CONFIGURATION%"=="static" set ST=-static
+echo.%CONFIGURATION% | findstr /C:"debug">nul && (
+    set "ST=-debug"
+)
+echo.%CONFIGURATION% | findstr /C:"static">nul && (
+    set "ST=-static"
+)
 
-set OS=64BIT
-if "%PLATFORM%"=="x86" set OS=32BIT
+set MY_OS=64BIT
+if "%PLATFORM%"=="x86" set MY_OS=32BIT
 
-echo [INFO] Platform: %OS%
+echo [INFO] Platform: %MY_OS%
 
 :: Use parallel make, except for 3.14
 set "MAKEARGS=-j2 -Otarget"
@@ -22,7 +30,7 @@ if "%APPVEYOR_REPO_BRANCH%"=="3.14" set MAKEARGS=
 
 if "%TOOLCHAIN%"=="mingw" (
     set "MAKE=mingw32-make"
-    if "%OS%"=="64BIT" (
+    if "%MY_OS%"=="64BIT" (
         set "EPICS_HOST_ARCH=windows-x64-mingw"
         set "INCLUDE=C:\mingw-w64\x86_64-8.1.0-posix-seh-rt_v6-rev0\mingw64\include;%INCLUDE%"
         set "PATH=C:\mingw-w64\x86_64-8.1.0-posix-seh-rt_v6-rev0\mingw64\bin;%PATH%"
@@ -38,6 +46,11 @@ if "%TOOLCHAIN%"=="mingw" (
     goto Finish
 )
 
+if "%TOOLCHAIN%"=="2019" (
+    echo [INFO] Setting strawberry perl path
+    set "PATH=c:\strawberry\perl\site\bin;C:\strawberry\perl\bin;%PATH%"
+)
+
 set "VSINSTALL=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio %TOOLCHAIN%"
 if not exist "%VSINSTALL%\" set "VSINSTALL=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\%TOOLCHAIN%\Community"
 if not exist "%VSINSTALL%\" goto MSMissing
@@ -46,9 +59,9 @@ set "MAKE=C:\tools\make"
 
 echo [INFO] APPVEYOR_BUILD_WORKER_IMAGE=%APPVEYOR_BUILD_WORKER_IMAGE%
 
-if "%OS%"=="64BIT" (
+if "%MY_OS%"=="64BIT" (
     set EPICS_HOST_ARCH=windows-x64%ST%
-    :: VS 2017
+    :: VS 2017/2019
     if exist "%VSINSTALL%\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat" (
         call "%VSINSTALL%\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars64.bat"
         where cl
@@ -73,7 +86,7 @@ if "%OS%"=="64BIT" (
     )
 ) else (
     set EPICS_HOST_ARCH=win32-x86%ST%
-    :: VS 2017
+    :: VS 2017/2019
     if exist "%VSINSTALL%\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars32.bat" (
         call "%VSINSTALL%\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvars32.bat"
         where cl
@@ -101,7 +114,7 @@ if "%OS%"=="64BIT" (
 )
 
 :MSMissing
-echo [INFO] Installation for MSVC Toolchain %TOOLCHAIN% / %OS% seems to be missing
+echo [INFO] Installation for MSVC Toolchain %TOOLCHAIN% / %MY_OS% seems to be missing
 exit 1
 
 :MSFound
diff --git a/.ci/appveyor-prepare.bat b/.ci/appveyor-prepare.bat
index a685dbfb3..312223d16 100644
--- a/.ci/appveyor-prepare.bat
+++ b/.ci/appveyor-prepare.bat
@@ -11,28 +11,42 @@
 
 Setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion
 
-set OS=64BIT
-if "%PLATFORM%"=="x86" set OS=32BIT
+set MY_OS=64BIT
+if "%PLATFORM%"=="x86" set MY_OS=32BIT
 
-echo [INFO] Platform: %OS%
+echo [INFO] Platform: %MY_OS%
 
-if "%TOOLCHAIN%"=="mingw" (
-    echo.%CONFIGURATION% | findstr /C:"static">nul && (
-        echo SHARED_LIBRARIES=NO>> configure\CONFIG_SITE
-        echo STATIC_BUILD=YES>> configure\CONFIG_SITE
-        echo [INFO] EPICS set up for static build
-    ) || (
-        echo [INFO] EPICS set up for dynamic build
-    )
-    echo.%CONFIGURATION% | findstr /C:"debug">nul && (
-        echo HOST_OPT=NO>> configure\CONFIG_SITE
-        echo [INFO] EPICS set up for debug build
-    ) || (
-        echo [INFO] EPICS set up for optimized build
-    )
+:: with MSVC either static or debug can be handled as part
+:: of EPICS_HOST_ARCH but not both. So we set the appropriate
+:: options in CONFIG_SITE. For mingw and cygwin they are missing
+:: some static and debug targets so set things here too
+echo.%CONFIGURATION% | findstr /C:"static">nul && (
+    echo SHARED_LIBRARIES=NO>> configure\CONFIG_SITE
+    echo STATIC_BUILD=YES>> configure\CONFIG_SITE
+    echo [INFO] EPICS set up for static build
+) || (
+    echo [INFO] EPICS set up for dynamic build
+)
+
+echo.%CONFIGURATION% | findstr /C:"debug">nul && (
+    echo HOST_OPT=NO>> configure\CONFIG_SITE
+    echo [INFO] EPICS set up for debug build
+) || (
+    echo [INFO] EPICS set up for optimized build
 )
 
 echo [INFO] Installing Make 4.2.1 from ANL web site
 curl -fsS --retry 3 -o C:\tools\make-4.2.1.zip https://epics.anl.gov/download/tools/make-4.2.1-win64.zip
 cd \tools
 "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z" e make-4.2.1.zip
+
+set "PERLVER=5.30.0.1"
+if "%TOOLCHAIN%"=="2019" (
+    echo [INFO] Installing Strawberry Perl %PERLVER%
+    curl -fsS --retry 3 -o C:\tools\perl-%PERLVER%.zip http://strawberryperl.com/download/%PERLVER%/strawberry-perl-%PERLVER%-64bit.zip
+    cd \tools
+    "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z" x perl-%PERLVER%.zip -oC:\strawberry
+    cd \strawberry
+    :: we set PATH in appveyor-build.bat
+    call relocation.pl.bat
+)
diff --git a/configure/os/CONFIG.win32-x86.win32-x86 b/configure/os/CONFIG.win32-x86.win32-x86
index 7d6c11b6b..6a5078d60 100644
--- a/configure/os/CONFIG.win32-x86.win32-x86
+++ b/configure/os/CONFIG.win32-x86.win32-x86
@@ -141,13 +141,16 @@ STATIC_LDFLAGS=
 RANLIB=
 
 #
-# option needed for parallel builds with Visual Studio 2015 onward
-#
+# option needed for parallel builds with Visual Studio 2013 onward
+# VS2012 and above have VisualStudioVersion, so just need to exclude 2012 (11.0)
 # -FS Force Synchronous PDB Writes
+#
 ifneq ($(VisualStudioVersion),)
+ifneq ($(VisualStudioVersion),11.0)
   OPT_CXXFLAGS_NO += -FS
   OPT_CFLAGS_NO += -FS
 endif
+endif
 
 
 #