diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 75c28f4..1567ccf 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -440,6 +440,8 @@ fi
 if test "$mingw32" = "yes" ; then
   EXESUF=".exe"
   QEMU_CFLAGS="-DWIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN -DWINVER=0x501 $QEMU_CFLAGS"
+  # enable C99/POSIX format strings (needs mingw32-runtime 3.15 or later)
+  QEMU_CFLAGS="-D__USE_MINGW_ANSI_STDIO=1 $QEMU_CFLAGS"
   LIBS="-lwinmm -lws2_32 -liphlpapi $LIBS"
 fi