diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index ef193f9c..724de2ce 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -97,6 +97,11 @@ elseif(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
     set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE "Release" CACHE STRING "Choose the type of build." FORCE)
 endif()
 
+set(MSVC_FRONTEND 0)
+if(MSVC OR ",${CMAKE_C_COMPILER_FRONTEND_VARIANT}," STREQUAL ",MSVC,")
+    set(MSVC_FRONTEND 1)
+endif()
+
 #***********************************************************************
 # targets
 #***********************************************************************
@@ -166,14 +171,14 @@ if(NOT MSVC)
     set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_RELEASE "${b}" CACHE STRING "Flags used by the CXX compiler during RELEASE builds." FORCE)
 endif()
 
-if(MSVC)
+if(MSVC_FRONTEND)
     # disable silly warnings about using "deprecated" POSIX functions like fopen()
     add_definitions(-D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_DEPRECATE)
     add_definitions(-D_CRT_NONSTDC_NO_WARNINGS)
     add_definitions(-D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE)
     add_definitions(-D_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS)
     # set __cplusplus according to selected C++ standard; use new preprocessor
-    add_definitions(-Zc:__cplusplus -Zc:preprocessor)
+    add_definitions(-J -Zc:__cplusplus -Zc:preprocessor)
 else()
     # protect against security threats caused by misguided compiler "optimizations"
     if(CMAKE_C_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL "GNU")
@@ -186,7 +191,7 @@ endif()
 
 # compile a target with -O2 even in Debug build
 function(upx_compile_target_debug_with_O2 t)
-    if(MSVC)
+    if(MSVC_FRONTEND)
         # MSVC uses some Debug compile options like -RTC1 that are incompatible with -O2
     else()
         target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE $<$<CONFIG:Debug>:-O2>)
@@ -195,7 +200,7 @@ endfunction()
 
 function(upx_sanitize_target t)
     if(NOT UPX_CONFIG_DISABLE_SANITIZE)
-        if(MSVC)
+        if(MSVC_FRONTEND)
             # MSVC uses -GS (similar to -fstack-protector) by default
         elseif(CMAKE_C_PLATFORM_ID MATCHES "^MinGW" OR MINGW OR CYGWIN)
             # avoid link errors with current MinGW-w64 versions
@@ -213,8 +218,8 @@ set(t upx_vendor_ucl)
 target_include_directories(${t} PRIVATE vendor/ucl/include vendor/ucl)
 upx_compile_target_debug_with_O2(${t})
 upx_sanitize_target(${t})
-if(MSVC)
-    target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE -J ${warn_WN} ${warn_WX})
+if(MSVC_FRONTEND)
+    target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE ${warn_WN} ${warn_WX})
 else()
     target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE ${warn_Wall} ${warn_Werror})
 endif()
@@ -223,8 +228,8 @@ set(t upx_vendor_zlib)
 upx_compile_target_debug_with_O2(${t})
 upx_sanitize_target(${t})
 target_compile_definitions(${t} PRIVATE HAVE_STDARG_H=1 HAVE_VSNPRINTF=1)
-if(MSVC)
-    target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE -J -W3 ${warn_WX})
+if(MSVC_FRONTEND)
+    target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE -W3 ${warn_WX})
 else()
     target_compile_definitions(${t} PRIVATE HAVE_UNISTD_H=1)
     # clang-15: -Wno-strict-prototypes is needed to silence the new -Wdeprecated-non-prototype warning
@@ -237,8 +242,8 @@ set(t upx_vendor_zstd)
 upx_compile_target_debug_with_O2(${t})
 upx_sanitize_target(${t})
 target_compile_definitions(${t} PRIVATE DYNAMIC_BMI2=0 ZSTD_DISABLE_ASM=1)
-if(MSVC)
-    target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE -J ${warn_WN} ${warn_WX})
+if(MSVC_FRONTEND)
+    target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE ${warn_WN} ${warn_WX})
 else()
     target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE ${warn_Wall} ${warn_Werror})
 endif()
@@ -267,8 +272,8 @@ if(NOT UPX_CONFIG_DISABLE_ZSTD)
 endif()
 #upx_compile_target_debug_with_O2(${t})
 upx_sanitize_target(${t})
-if(MSVC)
-    target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE -EHsc -J ${warn_WN} ${warn_WX})
+if(MSVC_FRONTEND)
+    target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE -EHsc ${warn_WN} ${warn_WX})
 else()
     target_compile_options(${t} PRIVATE ${warn_Wall} ${warn_Werror})
 endif()