diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Windows/2021-11-05-01-05-46.bpo-45720.47Nc5I.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Windows/2021-11-05-01-05-46.bpo-45720.47Nc5I.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..315759b07e147e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Windows/2021-11-05-01-05-46.bpo-45720.47Nc5I.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+Internal reference to :file:`shlwapi.dll` was dropped to help improve
+startup time. This DLL will no longer be loaded at the start of every Python
+process.
diff --git a/PC/getpathp.c b/PC/getpathp.c
index dc5b201d145f33..7c0eeab5dbab4a 100644
--- a/PC/getpathp.c
+++ b/PC/getpathp.c
@@ -91,7 +91,6 @@
 
 #include <windows.h>
 #include <pathcch.h>
-#include <shlwapi.h>
 
 #ifdef HAVE_SYS_TYPES_H
 #include <sys/types.h>
diff --git a/PCbuild/pythoncore.vcxproj b/PCbuild/pythoncore.vcxproj
index 2625d0293dde63..9a40905fe01f82 100644
--- a/PCbuild/pythoncore.vcxproj
+++ b/PCbuild/pythoncore.vcxproj
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
       <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="$(IncludeExternals)">_Py_HAVE_ZLIB;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
     </ClCompile>
     <Link>
-      <AdditionalDependencies>version.lib;shlwapi.lib;ws2_32.lib;pathcch.lib;%(AdditionalDependencies)</AdditionalDependencies>
+      <AdditionalDependencies>version.lib;ws2_32.lib;pathcch.lib;%(AdditionalDependencies)</AdditionalDependencies>
     </Link>
   </ItemDefinitionGroup>
   <ItemGroup>