diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
index 9d8cd5eca5c5..384350884916 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/__init__.py
@@ -324,15 +324,21 @@ def checkdep_dvipng():
 def checkdep_ghostscript():
     try:
         if sys.platform == 'win32':
-            command_args = ['gswin32c', '--version']
+            gs_execs = ['gswin32c', 'gswin64c', 'gs']
         else:
-            command_args = ['gs', '--version']
-        s = subprocess.Popen(command_args, stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-                             stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
-        v = byte2str(s.stdout.read()[:-1])
-        return v
+            gs_execs = ['gs']
+        for gs_exec in gs_execs:
+            s = subprocess.Popen(
+                [gs_exec, '--version'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
+                stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
+            stdout, stderr = s.communicate()
+            if s.returncode == 0:
+                v = byte2str(stdout[:-1])
+                return gs_exec, v
+
+        return None, None
     except (IndexError, ValueError, OSError):
-        return None
+        return None, None
 
 def checkdep_tex():
     try:
@@ -397,7 +403,7 @@ def checkdep_ps_distiller(s):
     flag = True
     gs_req = '7.07'
     gs_sugg = '7.07'
-    gs_v = checkdep_ghostscript()
+    gs_exec, gs_v = checkdep_ghostscript()
     if compare_versions(gs_v, gs_sugg): pass
     elif compare_versions(gs_v, gs_req):
         verbose.report(('ghostscript-%s found. ghostscript-%s or later '
@@ -452,7 +458,7 @@ def checkdep_usetex(s):
                        'backend unless dvipng-1.5 or later is '
                        'installed on your system')
 
-    gs_v = checkdep_ghostscript()
+    gs_exec, gs_v = checkdep_ghostscript()
     if compare_versions(gs_v, gs_sugg): pass
     elif compare_versions(gs_v, gs_req):
         verbose.report(('ghostscript-%s found. ghostscript-%s or later is '
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/testing/compare.py b/lib/matplotlib/testing/compare.py
index 9812e123aab1..de89d2130800 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/testing/compare.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/testing/compare.py
@@ -141,12 +141,8 @@ def convert(old, new):
 
    return convert
 
-if matplotlib.checkdep_ghostscript() is not None:
-    if sys.platform == 'win32':
-        gs = 'gswin32c'
-    else:
-        gs = 'gs'
-
+gs, gs_v = matplotlib.checkdep_ghostscript()
+if gs_v is not None:
     cmd = lambda old, new: \
         [gs, '-q', '-sDEVICE=png16m', '-dNOPAUSE', '-dBATCH',
         '-sOutputFile=' + new, old]
diff --git a/setupext.py b/setupext.py
index 17e1ef1fa602..8c1ce45e91b8 100644
--- a/setupext.py
+++ b/setupext.py
@@ -152,18 +152,6 @@ def get_base_dirs():
     return basedir_map.get(sys.platform, ['/usr/local', '/usr'])
 
 
-def run_child_process(cmd):
-    """
-    Run a subprocess as a sanity check.
-    """
-    p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True,
-                         stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
-                         stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
-                         stderr=subprocess.STDOUT,
-                         close_fds=(sys.platform != 'win32'))
-    return p.stdin, p.stdout
-
-
 def is_min_version(found, minversion):
     """
     Returns `True` if `found` is at least as high a version as
@@ -1713,9 +1701,10 @@ class DviPng(SetupPackage):
 
     def check(self):
         try:
-            stdin, stdout = run_child_process('dvipng -version')
-            return "version %s" % stdout.readlines()[1].decode().split()[-1]
-        except (IndexError, ValueError):
+            output = check_output('dvipng -version', shell=True,
+                                  stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+            return "version %s" % output.splitlines()[1].decode().split()[-1]
+        except (IndexError, ValueError, subprocess.CalledProcessError):
             raise CheckFailed()
 
 
@@ -1727,11 +1716,19 @@ def check(self):
         try:
             if sys.platform == 'win32':
                 command = 'gswin32c --version'
+                try:
+                    output = check_output(command, shell=True,
+                                          stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+                except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
+                    command = 'gswin64c --version'
+                    output = check_output(command, shell=True,
+                                          stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
             else:
                 command = 'gs --version'
-            stdin, stdout = run_child_process(command)
-            return "version %s" % stdout.read().decode()[:-1]
-        except (IndexError, ValueError):
+                output = check_output(command, shell=True,
+                                      stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+            return "version %s" % output.decode()[:-1]
+        except (IndexError, ValueError, subprocess.CalledProcessError):
             raise CheckFailed()
 
 
@@ -1741,12 +1738,13 @@ class LaTeX(SetupPackage):
 
     def check(self):
         try:
-            stdin, stdout = run_child_process('latex -version')
-            line = stdout.readlines()[0].decode()
+            output = check_output('latex -version', shell=True,
+                                  stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+            line = output.splitlines()[0].decode()
             pattern = '(3\.1\d+)|(MiKTeX \d+.\d+)'
             match = re.search(pattern, line)
             return "version %s" % match.group(0)
-        except (IndexError, ValueError, AttributeError):
+        except (IndexError, ValueError, AttributeError, subprocess.CalledProcessError):
             raise CheckFailed()
 
 
@@ -1756,12 +1754,13 @@ class PdfToPs(SetupPackage):
 
     def check(self):
         try:
-            stdin, stdout = run_child_process('pdftops -v')
-            for line in stdout.readlines():
+            output = check_output('pdftops -v', shell=True,
+                                  stderr=subprocess.STDOUT)
+            for line in output.splitlines():
                 line = line.decode()
                 if 'version' in line:
                     return "version %s" % line.split()[2]
-        except (IndexError, ValueError):
+        except (IndexError, ValueError, subprocess.CalledProcessError):
             pass
 
         raise CheckFailed()