diff --git a/Modules/Platform/Windows-MSVC.cmake b/Modules/Platform/Windows-MSVC.cmake
index 31b26b5927..e4aca6eb2b 100644
--- a/Modules/Platform/Windows-MSVC.cmake
+++ b/Modules/Platform/Windows-MSVC.cmake
@@ -310,6 +310,9 @@ macro(__windows_compiler_msvc lang)
   if(NOT CMAKE_RC_FLAGS_INIT)
     string(APPEND CMAKE_RC_FLAGS_INIT " ${_PLATFORM_DEFINES} ${_PLATFORM_DEFINES_${lang}}")
   endif()
+  if(NOT CMAKE_RC_FLAGS_DEBUG_INIT)
+    string(APPEND CMAKE_RC_FLAGS_DEBUG_INIT " /D_DEBUG")
+  endif()
 
   enable_language(RC)
   set(CMAKE_NINJA_CMCLDEPS_RC 1)