diff --git a/Extension/CHANGELOG.md b/Extension/CHANGELOG.md
index 67eb53eb70..b73054f791 100644
--- a/Extension/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/Extension/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 * Fix error popup appearing with non-workspace files when using `compile_commands.json`. [#1475](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-cpptools/issues/1475)
 * Add more macros to `cpp.hint` (fixing missing symbols).
 * Added support for config variables to `c_cpp_properties.json` [#314](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-cpptools/issues/314)
+* Define `_UNICODE` by default on Windows platforms. [#1538](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-cpptools/issues/1538)
 
 ## Version 0.14.6: January 17, 2018
 * Fix tag parser failing (and continuing to fail after edits) when it shouldn't. [#1367](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-cpptools/issues/1367)
diff --git a/Extension/src/LanguageServer/configurations.ts b/Extension/src/LanguageServer/configurations.ts
index eba252b0e4..fe4e51c52e 100644
--- a/Extension/src/LanguageServer/configurations.ts
+++ b/Extension/src/LanguageServer/configurations.ts
@@ -63,7 +63,8 @@ let defaultSettings: string = `{
             ],
             "defines": [
                 "_DEBUG",
-                "UNICODE"
+                "UNICODE",
+                "_UNICODE"
             ],
             "intelliSenseMode": "msvc-x64",
             "browse": {