diff --git a/lib/std/process.zig b/lib/std/process.zig
index a65f6da3af..520b219f97 100644
--- a/lib/std/process.zig
+++ b/lib/std/process.zig
@@ -281,9 +281,6 @@ pub const ArgIteratorWasi = struct {
 pub const ArgIteratorWindows = struct {
     index: usize,
     cmd_line: [*]const u8,
-    in_quote: bool,
-    quote_count: usize,
-    seen_quote_count: usize,
 
     pub const NextError = error{OutOfMemory};
 
@@ -295,9 +292,6 @@ pub const ArgIteratorWindows = struct {
         return ArgIteratorWindows{
             .index = 0,
             .cmd_line = cmd_line,
-            .in_quote = false,
-            .quote_count = countQuotes(cmd_line),
-            .seen_quote_count = 0,
         };
     }
 
@@ -328,6 +322,7 @@ pub const ArgIteratorWindows = struct {
         }
 
         var backslash_count: usize = 0;
+        var in_quote = false;
         while (true) : (self.index += 1) {
             const byte = self.cmd_line[self.index];
             switch (byte) {
@@ -335,14 +330,14 @@ pub const ArgIteratorWindows = struct {
                 '"' => {
                     const quote_is_real = backslash_count % 2 == 0;
                     if (quote_is_real) {
-                        self.seen_quote_count += 1;
+                        in_quote = !in_quote;
                     }
                 },
                 '\\' => {
                     backslash_count += 1;
                 },
                 ' ', '\t' => {
-                    if (self.seen_quote_count % 2 == 0 or self.seen_quote_count == self.quote_count) {
+                    if (!in_quote) {
                         return true;
                     }
                     backslash_count = 0;
@@ -360,6 +355,7 @@ pub const ArgIteratorWindows = struct {
         defer buf.deinit();
 
         var backslash_count: usize = 0;
+        var in_quote = false;
         while (true) : (self.index += 1) {
             const byte = self.cmd_line[self.index];
             switch (byte) {
@@ -370,10 +366,7 @@ pub const ArgIteratorWindows = struct {
                     backslash_count = 0;
 
                     if (quote_is_real) {
-                        self.seen_quote_count += 1;
-                        if (self.seen_quote_count == self.quote_count and self.seen_quote_count % 2 == 1) {
-                            try buf.append('"');
-                        }
+                        in_quote = !in_quote;
                     } else {
                         try buf.append('"');
                     }
@@ -384,7 +377,7 @@ pub const ArgIteratorWindows = struct {
                 ' ', '\t' => {
                     try self.emitBackslashes(&buf, backslash_count);
                     backslash_count = 0;
-                    if (self.seen_quote_count % 2 == 1 and self.seen_quote_count != self.quote_count) {
+                    if (in_quote) {
                         try buf.append(byte);
                     } else {
                         return buf.toOwnedSlice();
@@ -405,26 +398,6 @@ pub const ArgIteratorWindows = struct {
             try buf.append('\\');
         }
     }
-
-    fn countQuotes(cmd_line: [*]const u8) usize {
-        var result: usize = 0;
-        var backslash_count: usize = 0;
-        var index: usize = 0;
-        while (true) : (index += 1) {
-            const byte = cmd_line[index];
-            switch (byte) {
-                0 => return result,
-                '\\' => backslash_count += 1,
-                '"' => {
-                    result += 1 - (backslash_count % 2);
-                    backslash_count = 0;
-                },
-                else => {
-                    backslash_count = 0;
-                },
-            }
-        }
-    }
 };
 
 pub const ArgIterator = struct {
@@ -578,7 +551,7 @@ test "windows arg parsing" {
     testWindowsCmdLine("a\\\\\\b d\"e f\"g h", &[_][]const u8{ "a\\\\\\b", "de fg", "h" });
     testWindowsCmdLine("a\\\\\\\"b c d", &[_][]const u8{ "a\\\"b", "c", "d" });
     testWindowsCmdLine("a\\\\\\\\\"b c\" d e", &[_][]const u8{ "a\\\\b c", "d", "e" });
-    testWindowsCmdLine("a   b\tc \"d f", &[_][]const u8{ "a", "b", "c", "\"d", "f" });
+    testWindowsCmdLine("a   b\tc \"d f", &[_][]const u8{ "a", "b", "c", "d f" });
 
     testWindowsCmdLine("\".\\..\\zig-cache\\build\" \"bin\\zig.exe\" \".\\..\" \".\\..\\zig-cache\" \"--help\"", &[_][]const u8{
         ".\\..\\zig-cache\\build",