diff --git a/qrenderdoc/CMakeLists.txt b/qrenderdoc/CMakeLists.txt
index 728177fc7..dc996e5e7 100644
--- a/qrenderdoc/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/qrenderdoc/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -6,16 +6,16 @@ option(QRENDERDOC_NO_CXX11_REGEX "Disable C++11 regex in scintilla" OFF)
 
 set(QMAKE_CONFIG "debug")
 set(QMAKE_LDFLAGS "")
+set(QMAKE_CXXFLAGS "")
 
 if(STATIC_QRENDERDOC)
+    set(QMAKE_CXXFLAGS "-DSTATIC_QRENDERDOC=1")
     set(QMAKE_CONFIG "debug static")
     set(QMAKE_LDFLAGS "-static-libstdc++ -lutil")
 endif()
 
-set(QMAKE_CXXFLAGS "")
-
 if(QRENDERDOC_NO_CXX11_REGEX)
-    set(QMAKE_CXXFLAGS "-DNO_CXX11_REGEX=1")
+    set(QMAKE_CXXFLAGS "-DNO_CXX11_REGEX=1 ${QMAKE_CXXFLAGS}")
 endif()
 
 if(ENABLE_GL)
diff --git a/qrenderdoc/Code/pyrenderdoc/PythonContext.cpp b/qrenderdoc/Code/pyrenderdoc/PythonContext.cpp
index e3dc41197..3a1049f6b 100644
--- a/qrenderdoc/Code/pyrenderdoc/PythonContext.cpp
+++ b/qrenderdoc/Code/pyrenderdoc/PythonContext.cpp
@@ -41,7 +41,9 @@ PyTypeObject **SbkPySide2_QtWidgetsTypes = NULL;
 
 #include <QApplication>
 #include <QDebug>
+#include <QDir>
 #include <QFile>
+#include <QFileInfo>
 #include <QThread>
 #include <QTimer>
 #include "PythonContext.h"
@@ -112,6 +114,7 @@ static inline QString ToQStr(PyObject *value)
 }
 
 static wchar_t program_name[] = L"qrenderdoc";
+static wchar_t python_home[1024] = {0};
 
 struct OutputRedirector
 {
@@ -207,6 +210,19 @@ void PythonContext::GlobalInit()
   PyImport_AppendInittab("_renderdoc", &PyInit__renderdoc);
   PyImport_AppendInittab("_qrenderdoc", &PyInit__qrenderdoc);
 
+#if defined(STATIC_QRENDERDOC)
+  // add the location where our libs will be for statically-linked python installs
+  {
+    QDir bin = QFileInfo(QCoreApplication::applicationFilePath()).absoluteDir();
+
+    QString pylibs = QDir::cleanPath(bin.absoluteFilePath("../share/renderdoc/pylibs"));
+
+    pylibs.toWCharArray(python_home);
+
+    Py_SetPythonHome(python_home);
+  }
+#endif
+
   Py_SetProgramName(program_name);
 
   Py_Initialize();