diff --git a/tools/cpp/cc_configure.bzl b/tools/cpp/cc_configure.bzl
index b57c860..36b3365 100644
--- a/tools/cpp/cc_configure.bzl
+++ b/tools/cpp/cc_configure.bzl
@@ -118,6 +118,22 @@
     else:
         configure_unix_toolchain(repository_ctx, cpu_value, overriden_tools)
 
+MSVC_ENVVARS = [
+    "BAZEL_VC",
+    "BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION",
+    "BAZEL_VS",
+    "BAZEL_WINSDK_FULL_VERSION",
+    "VS90COMNTOOLS",
+    "VS100COMNTOOLS",
+    "VS110COMNTOOLS",
+    "VS120COMNTOOLS",
+    "VS140COMNTOOLS",
+    "VS150COMNTOOLS",
+    "VS160COMNTOOLS",
+    "TMP",
+    "TEMP",
+]
+
 cc_autoconf = repository_rule(
     environ = [
         "ABI_LIBC_VERSION",
@@ -136,10 +152,6 @@
         "BAZEL_USE_XCODE_TOOLCHAIN",
         "BAZEL_DO_NOT_DETECT_CPP_TOOLCHAIN",
         "BAZEL_USE_LLVM_NATIVE_COVERAGE",
-        "BAZEL_VC",
-        "BAZEL_VC_FULL_VERSION",
-        "BAZEL_VS",
-        "BAZEL_WINSDK_FULL_VERSION",
         "BAZEL_LLVM",
         "USE_CLANG_CL",
         "CC",
@@ -149,16 +161,7 @@
         "GCOV",
         "HOMEBREW_RUBY_PATH",
         "SYSTEMROOT",
-        "VS90COMNTOOLS",
-        "VS100COMNTOOLS",
-        "VS110COMNTOOLS",
-        "VS120COMNTOOLS",
-        "VS140COMNTOOLS",
-        "VS150COMNTOOLS",
-        "VS160COMNTOOLS",
-        "TMP",
-        "TEMP",
-    ],
+    ] + MSVC_ENVVARS,
     implementation = cc_autoconf_impl,
 )
 
diff --git a/tools/cpp/windows_cc_configure.bzl b/tools/cpp/windows_cc_configure.bzl
index 5a52486..9801d4a 100644
--- a/tools/cpp/windows_cc_configure.bzl
+++ b/tools/cpp/windows_cc_configure.bzl
@@ -254,8 +254,22 @@
             return True
     return False
 
-def setup_vc_env_vars(repository_ctx, vc_path):
-    """Get environment variables set by VCVARSALL.BAT script. Doesn't %-escape the result!"""
+def setup_vc_env_vars(repository_ctx, vc_path, envvars = [], allow_empty = False, escape = True):
+    """Get environment variables set by VCVARSALL.BAT script. Doesn't %-escape the result!
+
+    Args:
+        repository_ctx: the repository_ctx object
+        vc_path: Visual C++ root directory
+        envvars: list of envvars to retrieve; default is ["PATH", "INCLUDE", "LIB", "WINDOWSSDKDIR"]
+        allow_empty: allow unset envvars; if False then report errors for those
+        escape: if True, escape "\" as "\\" and "%" as "%%" in the envvar values
+
+    Returns:
+        dictionary of the envvars
+    """
+    if not envvars:
+        envvars = ["PATH", "INCLUDE", "LIB", "WINDOWSSDKDIR"]
+
     vcvars_script = _find_vcvars_bat_script(repository_ctx, vc_path)
     if not vcvars_script:
         auto_configure_fail("Cannot find VCVARSALL.BAT script under %s" % vc_path)
@@ -277,28 +291,25 @@
             vcvars_ver = "-vcvars_ver=" + full_version
 
     cmd = "\"%s\" amd64 %s %s" % (vcvars_script, winsdk_version, vcvars_ver)
+    print_envvars = ",".join(["{k}=%{k}%".format(k = k) for k in envvars])
     repository_ctx.file(
         "get_env.bat",
         "@echo off\n" +
-        ("call %s > NUL \n" % cmd) +
-        "echo PATH=%PATH%,INCLUDE=%INCLUDE%,LIB=%LIB%,WINDOWSSDKDIR=%WINDOWSSDKDIR% \n",
+        ("call %s > NUL \n" % cmd) + ("echo %s \n" % print_envvars),
         True,
     )
-    env = _add_system_root(
-        repository_ctx,
-        {"PATH": "", "INCLUDE": "", "LIB": "", "WINDOWSSDKDIR": ""},
-    )
+    env = _add_system_root(repository_ctx, {k: "" for k in envvars})
     envs = execute(repository_ctx, ["./get_env.bat"], environment = env).split(",")
     env_map = {}
     for env in envs:
         key, value = env.split("=", 1)
-        env_map[key] = escape_string(value.replace("\\", "\\\\"))
-    _check_env_vars(env_map, cmd)
+        env_map[key] = escape_string(value.replace("\\", "\\\\")) if escape else value
+    if not allow_empty:
+        _check_env_vars(env_map, cmd, expected = envvars)
     return env_map
 
-def _check_env_vars(env_map, cmd):
-    envs = ["PATH", "INCLUDE", "LIB", "WINDOWSSDKDIR"]
-    for env in envs:
+def _check_env_vars(env_map, cmd, expected):
+    for env in expected:
         if not env_map.get(env):
             auto_configure_fail(
                 "Setting up VC environment variables failed, %s is not set by the following command:\n    %s" % (env, cmd),