diff --git a/bypy/windows/wix-template.xml b/bypy/windows/wix-template.xml
index 66e2fbcc6a..69a80b9e11 100644
--- a/bypy/windows/wix-template.xml
+++ b/bypy/windows/wix-template.xml
@@ -26,6 +26,11 @@
         guarantees of anything. -->
     <Property Id='REINSTALLMODE' Value='amus'/>
 
+    <!-- get the windows build number -->
+    <Property Id="WINDOWSBUILDNUMBER" Secure="yes">
+        <RegistrySearch Id="BuildNumberSearch" Root="HKLM" Key="SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" Name="CurrentBuildNumber" Type="raw" />
+    </Property>
+
     <Upgrade Id="{upgrade_code}">
         <UpgradeVersion Maximum="{version}"
             IncludeMaximum="yes"
@@ -172,9 +177,9 @@
     <Property Id='ARPURLUPDATEINFO' Value="https://calibre-ebook.com/download_windows" />
     <SetProperty Id="ARPINSTALLLOCATION" Value="[APPLICATIONFOLDER]" After="CostFinalize" />
 
-    <Condition
-        Message="This application is only supported on {minverhuman}, or higher.">
-        <![CDATA[Installed OR (VersionNT >= {minver})]]>
+    <Condition Message="calibre requires Windows 10 or newer.">
+        <!-- See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10_version_history for build numbers -->
+        <![CDATA[Installed OR (WINDOWSBUILDNUMBER >= 10240)]]>
     </Condition>
     <!-- On 64 bit installers there is a bug in WiX that causes the
         WixSetDefaultPerMachineFolder action to incorrectly set
diff --git a/bypy/windows/wix.py b/bypy/windows/wix.py
index ad93b0d448..46cb1672ec 100644
--- a/bypy/windows/wix.py
+++ b/bypy/windows/wix.py
@@ -37,10 +37,6 @@ def create_installer(env):
         upgrade_code=UPGRADE_CODE,
         ProgramFilesFolder='ProgramFiles64Folder' if is64bit else 'ProgramFilesFolder',
         x64=' 64bit' if is64bit else '',
-        minverhuman='Windows 10',
-        # We cant actually check for windows 10 because of
-        # https://community.flexera.com/t5/InstallShield-Knowledge-Base/Identifying-Windows-10-with-MSI/ta-p/4166
-        minver='603',
         fix_wix='<Custom Action="OverwriteWixSetDefaultPerMachineFolder" After="WixSetDefaultPerMachineFolder" />' if is64bit else '',
         compression='high',
         app_components=components,