diff --git a/icu4c/readme.html b/icu4c/readme.html
index 4ea130956a9..5ec72017921 100644
--- a/icu4c/readme.html
+++ b/icu4c/readme.html
@@ -983,7 +983,7 @@
     <ul>
       <li>Microsoft Windows</li>
 
-      <li>Microsoft Visual C++ (when gcc isn't used).</li>
+      <li>Microsoft Visual C++ (from Visual Studio 2015 or newer, when gcc isn't used).</li>
 
       <li>
         Cygwin with the following installed:
@@ -1018,11 +1018,11 @@
       Visual C++ compiler will not work with a bash command prompt.</li>
 
       <li>If the computer isn't set up to use Visual C++ from the command line,
-      you need to run vcvars32.bat.<br />For example:<br />"<tt>C:\Program Files\Microsoft
-      Visual Studio 8\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat</tt>" can be used for 32-bit builds
-      <strong>or</strong> <br />"<tt>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio
-      8\VC\bin\amd64\vcvarsamd64.bat</tt>" can be used for 64-bit builds on
-      Windows x64.</li>
+      you need to run vcvars32.bat.<br />For example:<br />
+      "<tt>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\bin\vcvars32.bat</tt>"
+      can be used for 32-bit builds <strong>or</strong> <br />
+      "<tt>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14\VC\bin\x86_amd64\vcvarsx86_amd64.bat</tt>"
+      can be used for 64-bit builds on Windows x64.</li>
 
       <li>Unzip the icu-XXXX.zip file into any convenient location. Using command
       line zip, type "unzip -a icu-XXXX.zip -d drive:\directory", or just use
diff --git a/icu4c/source/config/mh-cygwin-msvc b/icu4c/source/config/mh-cygwin-msvc
index 01003acfd92..4744bb949e3 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/config/mh-cygwin-msvc
+++ b/icu4c/source/config/mh-cygwin-msvc
@@ -47,8 +47,9 @@ endif
 # /EHsc enables exception handling
 # /Zc:wchar_t makes wchar_t a native type. Required for C++ ABI compatibility.
 # -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE is needed to quiet warnings about using standard C functions.
-CFLAGS+=-GF -nologo
-CXXFLAGS+=-GF -nologo -EHsc -Zc:wchar_t
+# -utf-8 set source file encoding to utf-8.
+CFLAGS+=-GF -nologo -utf-8
+CXXFLAGS+=-GF -nologo -EHsc -Zc:wchar_t -utf-8
 CPPFLAGS+=-D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE
 DEFS+=-DWIN32 -DCYGWINMSVC
 LDFLAGS+=-nologo
diff --git a/icu4c/source/config/mh-msys-msvc b/icu4c/source/config/mh-msys-msvc
index 6b57c26927e..05fe514ac7b 100644
--- a/icu4c/source/config/mh-msys-msvc
+++ b/icu4c/source/config/mh-msys-msvc
@@ -52,8 +52,9 @@ endif
 # -EHsc enables exception handling
 # -Zc:wchar_t makes wchar_t a native type. Required for C++ ABI compatibility.
 # -D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE is needed to quiet warnings about using standard C functions.
-CFLAGS+=-GF -nologo
-CXXFLAGS+=-GF -nologo -EHsc -Zc:wchar_t
+# -utf-8 set source file encoding to utf-8.
+CFLAGS+=-GF -nologo -utf-8
+CXXFLAGS+=-GF -nologo -EHsc -Zc:wchar_t -utf-8
 CPPFLAGS+=-D_CRT_SECURE_NO_DEPRECATE
 DEFS+=-DWIN32 -DCYGWINMSVC
 LDFLAGS+=-nologo
diff --git a/icu4c/source/runConfigureICU b/icu4c/source/runConfigureICU
index 009fc93cb40..abe8832b662 100755
--- a/icu4c/source/runConfigureICU
+++ b/icu4c/source/runConfigureICU
@@ -263,10 +263,10 @@ case $platform in
         THE_COMP="Microsoft Visual C++"
         CC=cl; export CC
         CXX=cl; export CXX
-        RELEASE_CFLAGS='-Gy -MD -utf-8'
-        RELEASE_CXXFLAGS='-Gy -MD -utf-8'
-        DEBUG_CFLAGS='-Zi -MDd -utf-8'
-        DEBUG_CXXFLAGS='-Zi -MDd -utf-8'
+        RELEASE_CFLAGS='-Gy -MD'
+        RELEASE_CXXFLAGS='-Gy -MD'
+        DEBUG_CFLAGS='-Zi -MDd'
+        DEBUG_CXXFLAGS='-Zi -MDd'
         DEBUG_LDFLAGS='-DEBUG'
         ;;
     Cygwin/MSVC2005)