diff --git a/libs/pbd/pbd/windows_special_dirs.h b/libs/pbd/pbd/windows_special_dirs.h
index eb502c7b80..146ad747a8 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/pbd/windows_special_dirs.h
+++ b/libs/pbd/pbd/windows_special_dirs.h
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 #ifndef __libpbd_windows_special_dirs_h__
 #define __libpbd_windows_special_dirs_h__
 
+#include <windows.h>
 #include <string>
 
 #include "pbd/libpbd_visibility.h"
@@ -38,7 +39,11 @@ namespace PBD {
 */
 LIBPBD_API std::string get_win_special_folder_path (int csidl);
 
-LIBPBD_API bool windows_query_registry (const char *regkey, const char *regval, std::string &rv);
+/**
+ * Convenience function to query registry keys. Test for both native,
+ * as well as WindowsOnWindows 64/32 key and returns the value as UTF-8 string.
+ */
+LIBPBD_API bool windows_query_registry (const char* regkey, const char* regval, std::string &rv, HKEY root = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE);
 
 }
 
diff --git a/libs/pbd/windows_special_dirs.cc b/libs/pbd/windows_special_dirs.cc
index 4c2680054c..388dc7a67d 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/windows_special_dirs.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/windows_special_dirs.cc
@@ -49,13 +49,13 @@ PBD::get_win_special_folder_path (int csidl)
 }
 
 bool
-PBD::windows_query_registry (const char *regkey, const char *regval, std::string &rv)
+PBD::windows_query_registry (const char *regkey, const char *regval, std::string &rv, HKEY root)
 {
 	HKEY key;
 	DWORD size = PATH_MAX;
 	char tmp[PATH_MAX+1];
 
-	if (   (ERROR_SUCCESS == RegOpenKeyExA (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, regkey, 0, KEY_READ, &key))
+	if (   (ERROR_SUCCESS == RegOpenKeyExA (root, regkey, 0, KEY_READ, &key))
 			&& (ERROR_SUCCESS == RegQueryValueExA (key, regval, 0, NULL, reinterpret_cast<LPBYTE>(tmp), &size))
 		 )
 	{
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ PBD::windows_query_registry (const char *regkey, const char *regval, std::string
 		return true;
 	}
 
-	if (   (ERROR_SUCCESS == RegOpenKeyExA (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, regkey, 0, KEY_READ | KEY_WOW64_32KEY, &key))
+	if (   (ERROR_SUCCESS == RegOpenKeyExA (root, regkey, 0, KEY_READ | KEY_WOW64_32KEY, &key))
 			&& (ERROR_SUCCESS == RegQueryValueExA (key, regval, 0, NULL, reinterpret_cast<LPBYTE>(tmp), &size))
 		 )
 	{