diff --git a/direct/src/showutil/FreezeTool.py b/direct/src/showutil/FreezeTool.py
index 38c50fa11b..a8a967f93a 100644
--- a/direct/src/showutil/FreezeTool.py
+++ b/direct/src/showutil/FreezeTool.py
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ isDebugBuild = (python.lower().endswith('_d'))
 
 # These are modules that Python always tries to import up-front.  They
 # must be frozen in any main.exe.
+# NB. if encodings are removed, be sure to remove them from the shortcut in
+# deploy-stub.c.
 startupModules = [
     'encodings', 'encodings.aliases', 'encodings.undefined', 'encodings.ascii',
     'encodings.cp1252', 'encodings.latin_1', 'encodings.utf_8',
diff --git a/pandatool/src/deploy-stub/deploy-stub.c b/pandatool/src/deploy-stub/deploy-stub.c
index d35d3f59a9..51d7da88a9 100644
--- a/pandatool/src/deploy-stub/deploy-stub.c
+++ b/pandatool/src/deploy-stub/deploy-stub.c
@@ -38,6 +38,32 @@ static struct _inittab extensions[] = {
 #endif
 #endif
 
+#if defined(_WIN32) && PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x03060000
+static int supports_code_page(UINT cp) {
+  /* Shortcut, because we know that these encodings are bundled by default--
+   * see FreezeTool.py and Python's encodings/aliases.py */
+  if (cp != 0 && cp != 1252 && cp != 367 && cp != 437 && cp != 850 && cp != 819) {
+    const struct _frozen *moddef;
+    char codec[100];
+
+    /* Check if the codec was frozen into the program.  We can't check this
+     * using _PyCodec_Lookup, since Python hasn't been initialized yet. */
+    PyOS_snprintf(codec, sizeof(codec), "encodings.cp%u", (unsigned int)cp);
+
+    moddef = PyImport_FrozenModules;
+    while (moddef->name) {
+      if (strcmp(moddef->name, codec) == 0) {
+        return 1;
+      }
+      ++moddef;
+    }
+    return 0;
+  }
+
+  return 1;
+}
+#endif
+
 /* Main program */
 
 #ifdef WIN_UNICODE
@@ -64,6 +90,19 @@ int Py_FrozenMain(int argc, char **argv)
     }
 #endif
 
+#if defined(MS_WINDOWS) && PY_VERSION_HEX >= 0x03040000 && PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x03060000
+    if (!supports_code_page(GetConsoleOutputCP()) ||
+        !supports_code_page(GetConsoleCP())) {
+      /* Revert to the active codepage, and tell Python to use the 'mbcs'
+       * encoding (which always uses the active codepage).  In 99% of cases,
+       * this will be the same thing anyway. */
+      UINT acp = GetACP();
+      SetConsoleCP(acp);
+      SetConsoleOutputCP(acp);
+      Py_SetStandardStreamEncoding("mbcs", NULL);
+    }
+#endif
+
     Py_FrozenFlag = 1; /* Suppress errors from getpath.c */
     Py_NoSiteFlag = 1;
     Py_NoUserSiteDirectory = 1;
@@ -112,6 +151,33 @@ int Py_FrozenMain(int argc, char **argv)
     PyWinFreeze_ExeInit();
 #endif
 
+#if defined(MS_WINDOWS) && PY_VERSION_HEX < 0x03040000
+    if (!supports_code_page(GetConsoleOutputCP()) ||
+        !supports_code_page(GetConsoleCP())) {
+      /* Same hack as before except for Python 2.7, which doesn't seem to have
+       * a way to set the encoding ahead of time, and setting PYTHONIOENCODING
+       * doesn't seem to work.  Fortunately, Python 2.7 doesn't usually start
+       * causing codec errors until the first print statement. */
+      PyObject *sys_stream;
+      UINT acp = GetACP();
+      SetConsoleCP(acp);
+      SetConsoleOutputCP(acp);
+
+      sys_stream = PySys_GetObject("stdin");
+      if (sys_stream && PyFile_Check(sys_stream)) {
+        PyFile_SetEncodingAndErrors(sys_stream, "mbcs", NULL);
+      }
+      sys_stream = PySys_GetObject("stdout");
+      if (sys_stream && PyFile_Check(sys_stream)) {
+        PyFile_SetEncodingAndErrors(sys_stream, "mbcs", NULL);
+      }
+      sys_stream = PySys_GetObject("stderr");
+      if (sys_stream && PyFile_Check(sys_stream)) {
+        PyFile_SetEncodingAndErrors(sys_stream, "mbcs", NULL);
+      }
+    }
+#endif
+
     if (Py_VerboseFlag)
         fprintf(stderr, "Python %s\n%s\n",
             Py_GetVersion(), Py_GetCopyright());