diff --git a/.vs/rufus.vcxproj b/.vs/rufus.vcxproj
index 60a14a0f..1f3eb5b6 100644
--- a/.vs/rufus.vcxproj
+++ b/.vs/rufus.vcxproj
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@
       <GenerateDebugInformation>true</GenerateDebugInformation>
       <SubSystem>Windows</SubSystem>
       <TargetMachine>MachineX86</TargetMachine>
+      <DelayLoadDLLs>version.dll;%(DelayLoadDLLs)</DelayLoadDLLs>
     </Link>
     <ResourceCompile>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions>_UNICODE;UNICODE;RUFUS_LOC;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
@@ -162,6 +163,7 @@
       <GenerateDebugInformation>true</GenerateDebugInformation>
       <SubSystem>Windows</SubSystem>
       <AdditionalLibraryDirectories>C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Lib\10.0.15063.0\um\arm</AdditionalLibraryDirectories>
+      <DelayLoadDLLs>version.dll;%(DelayLoadDLLs)</DelayLoadDLLs>
     </Link>
     <ResourceCompile>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions>_UNICODE;UNICODE;RUFUS_LOC;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
@@ -188,6 +190,7 @@
       <GenerateDebugInformation>true</GenerateDebugInformation>
       <SubSystem>Windows</SubSystem>
       <AdditionalLibraryDirectories>C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Lib\10.0.16299.0\um\arm64</AdditionalLibraryDirectories>
+      <DelayLoadDLLs>version.dll;%(DelayLoadDLLs)</DelayLoadDLLs>
     </Link>
     <ResourceCompile>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions>_UNICODE;UNICODE;RUFUS_LOC;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
@@ -219,6 +222,7 @@
       <GenerateDebugInformation>true</GenerateDebugInformation>
       <SubSystem>Windows</SubSystem>
       <TargetMachine>MachineX64</TargetMachine>
+      <DelayLoadDLLs>version.dll;%(DelayLoadDLLs)</DelayLoadDLLs>
     </Link>
     <ResourceCompile>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions>_UNICODE;UNICODE;RUFUS_LOC;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
@@ -246,6 +250,7 @@
       <SubSystem>Windows</SubSystem>
       <TargetMachine>MachineX86</TargetMachine>
       <AdditionalOptions>/BREPRO %(AdditionalOptions)</AdditionalOptions>
+      <DelayLoadDLLs>version.dll;%(DelayLoadDLLs)</DelayLoadDLLs>
     </Link>
     <ResourceCompile>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions>_UNICODE;UNICODE;RUFUS_LOC;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
@@ -273,6 +278,7 @@
       <SubSystem>Windows</SubSystem>
       <AdditionalLibraryDirectories>C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Lib\10.0.15063.0\um\arm</AdditionalLibraryDirectories>
       <AdditionalOptions>/BREPRO %(AdditionalOptions)</AdditionalOptions>
+      <DelayLoadDLLs>version.dll;%(DelayLoadDLLs)</DelayLoadDLLs>
     </Link>
     <ResourceCompile>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions>_UNICODE;UNICODE;RUFUS_LOC;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
@@ -302,6 +308,7 @@
       <SubSystem>Windows</SubSystem>
       <AdditionalLibraryDirectories>C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Lib\10.0.16299.0\um\arm64</AdditionalLibraryDirectories>
       <AdditionalOptions>/BREPRO %(AdditionalOptions)</AdditionalOptions>
+      <DelayLoadDLLs>version.dll;%(DelayLoadDLLs)</DelayLoadDLLs>
     </Link>
     <ResourceCompile>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions>_UNICODE;UNICODE;RUFUS_LOC;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
@@ -334,6 +341,7 @@
       <SubSystem>Windows</SubSystem>
       <TargetMachine>MachineX64</TargetMachine>
       <AdditionalOptions>/BREPRO %(AdditionalOptions)</AdditionalOptions>
+      <DelayLoadDLLs>version.dll;%(DelayLoadDLLs)</DelayLoadDLLs>
     </Link>
     <ResourceCompile>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions>_UNICODE;UNICODE;RUFUS_LOC;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
diff --git a/src/rufus.c b/src/rufus.c
index e3aac859..fb1fc5e3 100755
--- a/src/rufus.c
+++ b/src/rufus.c
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
 #include <io.h>
 #include <getopt.h>
 #include <assert.h>
+#include <delayimp.h>
 
 #include "rufus.h"
 #include "missing.h"
@@ -3193,6 +3194,21 @@ static HANDLE SetHogger(void)
 	return hogmutex;
 }
 
+// For delay-loaded DLLs,
+// use LOAD_LIBRARY_SEARCH_SYSTEM32 to avoid DLL search order hijacking.
+FARPROC WINAPI dllDelayLoadHook(unsigned dliNotify, PDelayLoadInfo pdli)
+{
+	if (dliNotify == dliNotePreLoadLibrary)
+	{
+		// Windows 7 without KB2533623 does not support the LOAD_LIBRARY_SEARCH_SYSTEM32 flag.
+		// That is is OK, because the delay load handler will interrupt the NULL return value
+		// to mean that it should perform a normal LoadLibrary.
+		return (FARPROC)LoadLibraryExA(pdli->szDll, NULL, LOAD_LIBRARY_SEARCH_SYSTEM32);
+	}
+
+	return NULL;
+}
+const PfnDliHook __pfnDliNotifyHook2 = dllDelayLoadHook;
 
 /*
  * Application Entrypoint
@@ -3204,7 +3220,6 @@ int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine
 #endif
 {
 	const char* rufus_loc = "rufus.loc";
-	wchar_t kernel32_path[MAX_PATH];
 	int i, opt, option_index = 0, argc = 0, si = 0, lcid = GetUserDefaultUILanguage();
 	int wait_for_mutex = 0;
 	FILE* fd;
@@ -3240,22 +3255,16 @@ int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine
 	// Still, we invoke it, for platforms where the following call might actually work...
 	SetDllDirectoryA("");
 
-	// Also, even if you use SetDefaultDllDirectories(LOAD_LIBRARY_SEARCH_SYSTEM32), you're
-	// still going to be brought down if you link to wininet.lib or dwmapi.lib, as these two
-	// perform their DLL invocations before you've had a chance to execute anything.
-	// Of course, this is not something that security "researchers" will bother looking into
-	// to try to help fellow developers, when they can get an ego fix by simply throwing
-	// generic URLs around and deliberately refusing to practice *responsible disclosure*...
+	// For libraries on the KnownDLLs list, the system will always load them from System32.
+	// For other DLLs we link directly to, like version.dll, we delay load the DLL and use
+	// a delay load hook to load them from System32.
+	// For all other DLLs, use SetDefaultDllDirectories(LOAD_LIBRARY_SEARCH_SYSTEM32).
 	// Finally, we need to perform the whole gymkhana below, where we can't call on
 	// SetDefaultDllDirectories() directly, because Windows 7 doesn't have the API exposed.
-	GetSystemDirectoryW(kernel32_path, ARRAYSIZE(kernel32_path));
-	wcsncat(kernel32_path, L"\\kernel32.dll", ARRAYSIZE(kernel32_path) - wcslen(kernel32_path) - 1);
-	// NB: Because kernel32 should already be loaded, what we do above to ensure that we
-	// (re)pick the system one is mostly unnecessary. But since for a hammer everything is a
-	// nail... Also, no, Coverity, we never need to care about freeing kernel32 as a library.
+	// Also, no, Coverity, we never need to care about freeing kernel32 as a library.
 	// coverity[leaked_storage]
 	pfSetDefaultDllDirectories = (SetDefaultDllDirectories_t)
-		GetProcAddress(LoadLibraryW(kernel32_path), "SetDefaultDllDirectories");
+		GetProcAddress(LoadLibraryW(L"kernel32.dll"), "SetDefaultDllDirectories");
 	if (pfSetDefaultDllDirectories != NULL)
 		pfSetDefaultDllDirectories(LOAD_LIBRARY_SEARCH_SYSTEM32);