diff --git a/src/lib/corelib/tools/msvcinfo.cpp b/src/lib/corelib/tools/msvcinfo.cpp
index 973284b2b..20698d818 100644
--- a/src/lib/corelib/tools/msvcinfo.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/corelib/tools/msvcinfo.cpp
@@ -55,6 +55,7 @@
 #include <QtCore/qsettings.h>
 #include <QtCore/qstringlist.h>
 #include <QtCore/qtemporaryfile.h>
+#include <QtCore/qtextcodec.h>
 
 #ifdef Q_OS_WIN
 #include <QtCore/qt_windows.h>
@@ -318,13 +319,16 @@ static QString vswhereFilePath()
 }
 
 enum class ProductType { VisualStudio, BuildTools };
-static std::vector<MSVCInstallInfo> retrieveInstancesFromVSWhere(
-        ProductType productType, Logger &logger)
+
+// QBS-1712: We need to decode the `vswhere` output to the unicode from the local
+// console codepage, see https://github.com/Microsoft/vswhere/wiki/Encoding.
+static QByteArray getVSWhereJsonOutput(ProductType productType, Logger &logger)
 {
-    std::vector<MSVCInstallInfo> result;
     const QString cmd = vswhereFilePath();
-    if (cmd.isEmpty())
-        return result;
+    if (cmd.isEmpty()) {
+        logger.qbsWarning() << Tr::tr("The vswhere tool not found");
+        return {};
+    }
     QProcess vsWhere;
     QStringList args = productType == ProductType::VisualStudio
             ? QStringList({QStringLiteral("-all"), QStringLiteral("-legacy"),
@@ -334,22 +338,52 @@ static std::vector<MSVCInstallInfo> retrieveInstancesFromVSWhere(
     args << QStringLiteral("-format") << QStringLiteral("json") << QStringLiteral("-utf8");
     vsWhere.start(cmd, args);
     if (!vsWhere.waitForStarted(-1))
-        return result;
+        return {};
     if (!vsWhere.waitForFinished(-1)) {
         logger.qbsWarning() << Tr::tr("The vswhere tool failed to run").append(QLatin1String(": "))
                         .append(vsWhere.errorString());
-        return result;
+        return {};
     }
     if (vsWhere.exitCode() != 0) {
         const QString stdOut = QString::fromLocal8Bit(vsWhere.readAllStandardOutput());
         const QString stdErr = QString::fromLocal8Bit(vsWhere.readAllStandardError());
         logger.qbsWarning() << Tr::tr("The vswhere tool failed to run").append(QLatin1String(".\n"))
                      .append(formatVswhereOutput(stdOut, stdErr));
-        return result;
+        return {};
     }
+
+    // This output may contains a non-unicode strings, we need to decode it
+    // using a local console codepage.
+    const auto output = vsWhere.readAllStandardOutput();
+    const QSettings codepageRegistry(
+                QStringLiteral("HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet"
+                               "\\Control\\Nls\\CodePage"),
+                QSettings::NativeFormat);
+    const auto codepage = codepageRegistry.value(QStringLiteral("OEMCP")).toString();
+    if (codepage.isEmpty()) {
+        logger.qbsInfo() << Tr::tr("Unable to decode vswere output due to OEMCP "
+                                   "not found in registry");
+        return output;
+    }
+    const auto codec = QTextCodec::codecForName(QLatin1String("CP%1").arg(codepage).toLatin1());
+    if (!codec) {
+        logger.qbsInfo() << Tr::tr("Unable to decode vswere output due to text "
+                                   "codec not found for codepage: cp%1").arg(codepage);
+        return output;
+    }
+
+    return codec->toUnicode(output).toUtf8();
+}
+
+static std::vector<MSVCInstallInfo> retrieveInstancesFromVSWhere(
+        ProductType productType, Logger &logger)
+{
+    const auto output = getVSWhereJsonOutput(productType, logger);
+    if (output.isEmpty())
+        return {};
+    std::vector<MSVCInstallInfo> result;
     QJsonParseError parseError{};
-    QJsonDocument jsonOutput = QJsonDocument::fromJson(vsWhere.readAllStandardOutput(),
-                                                       &parseError);
+    QJsonDocument jsonOutput = QJsonDocument::fromJson(output, &parseError);
     if (parseError.error != QJsonParseError::NoError) {
         logger.qbsWarning() << Tr::tr("The vswhere tool produced invalid JSON output: %1")
                         .arg(parseError.errorString());