diff --git a/std/process.d b/std/process.d
index 9019780b4..ca6f46cb2 100644
--- a/std/process.d
+++ b/std/process.d
@@ -515,8 +515,6 @@ private Pid spawnProcessImpl(in char[] commandLine,
     // Startup info for CreateProcessW().
     STARTUPINFO_W startinfo;
     startinfo.cb = startinfo.sizeof;
-    startinfo.dwFlags = STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;
-
     static int getFD(ref File f) { return f.isOpen ? f.fileno : -1; }
 
     // Extract file descriptors and HANDLEs from the streams and make the
@@ -525,8 +523,12 @@ private Pid spawnProcessImpl(in char[] commandLine,
                               out int fileDescriptor, out HANDLE handle)
     {
         fileDescriptor = getFD(file);
-        if (fileDescriptor < 0)   handle = GetStdHandle(stdHandle);
-        else                      handle = file.windowsHandle;
+        handle = null;
+        if (fileDescriptor >= 0)
+            handle = file.windowsHandle;
+        // Windows GUI applications have a fd but not a valid Windows HANDLE.
+        if (handle is null || handle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
+            handle = GetStdHandle(stdHandle);
 
         DWORD dwFlags;
         if (GetHandleInformation(handle, &dwFlags))
@@ -550,6 +552,11 @@ private Pid spawnProcessImpl(in char[] commandLine,
     prepareStream(stdout, STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE, "stdout", stdoutFD, startinfo.hStdOutput);
     prepareStream(stderr, STD_ERROR_HANDLE,  "stderr", stderrFD, startinfo.hStdError );
 
+    if ((startinfo.hStdInput  != null && startinfo.hStdInput  != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
+     || (startinfo.hStdOutput != null && startinfo.hStdOutput != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE)
+     || (startinfo.hStdError  != null && startinfo.hStdError  != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE))
+        startinfo.dwFlags = STARTF_USESTDHANDLES;
+
     // Create process.
     PROCESS_INFORMATION pi;
     DWORD dwCreationFlags =