diff --git a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/utils/org/eclipse/cdt/utils/spawner/EnvironmentReader.java b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/utils/org/eclipse/cdt/utils/spawner/EnvironmentReader.java
index c231207c01a..18442ae4312 100644
--- a/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/utils/org/eclipse/cdt/utils/spawner/EnvironmentReader.java
+++ b/core/org.eclipse.cdt.core/utils/org/eclipse/cdt/utils/spawner/EnvironmentReader.java
@@ -11,107 +11,27 @@
 package org.eclipse.cdt.utils.spawner;
 
 
-import java.io.BufferedReader;
-import java.io.IOException;
-import java.io.InputStream;
-import java.io.InputStreamReader;
-import java.nio.ByteOrder;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Properties;
-import java.util.Vector;
 
 public class EnvironmentReader {
 	private static Properties envVars = null;
-	private static Vector<String> rawVars = null;
+	private static ArrayList<String> rawVars = null;
 
 	public static Properties getEnvVars() {
-
 		if (null != envVars) {
 			return (Properties)envVars.clone();
 		}
 
-		String OS = System.getProperty("os.name").toLowerCase(); //$NON-NLS-1$
-		Process p = null;
 		envVars = new Properties();
-		rawVars = new Vector<String>(32);
-		String command = "env"; //$NON-NLS-1$
-		InputStream in = null;
-		boolean check_ready = false;
-		boolean isWin32 = false;
-		String charSet = null;
-		if (OS.startsWith("windows 9") || OS.startsWith("windows me")) { // 95, 98, me //$NON-NLS-1$ //$NON-NLS-2$
-			command = "command.com /c set"; //$NON-NLS-1$
-			//The buffered stream doesn't always like windows 98
-			check_ready = true;
-			isWin32 = true;
-		} else if (OS.startsWith("windows ")) { //$NON-NLS-1$
-			command = "cmd.exe /u /c  set"; //$NON-NLS-1$
-			isWin32 = true;
-			charSet = "UTF-16" + (ByteOrder.BIG_ENDIAN.equals(ByteOrder.nativeOrder()) ? "BE" : "LE");  //$NON-NLS-1$//$NON-NLS-2$ //$NON-NLS-3$
-		}
-		try {
-			p = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(command);
-			in = p.getInputStream();
-			BufferedReader br;
-			if (null == charSet) { 
-				br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(in));
-			} else {
-				br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(in, charSet));
-			}
-			String line;
-			String prev_key = null; // previous key read and saved in envVars
-			String prev_value = null; // value of previous key
-			while ((line = br.readLine()) != null) {
-				rawVars.add(line);
-				int idx = line.indexOf('=');
-				if (idx != -1) {
-					String key = line.substring(0, idx);
-					if (isWin32) { //Since windows env ignores case let normalize to Upper here.
-						key = key.toUpperCase();
-					}
-					String value = line.substring(idx + 1);
-					envVars.setProperty(key, value);
-					// Save key and value in case we're dealing with a variable with
-					// a multi-line value; i.e., it contains embedded new lines (\n).
-					prev_key = key;
-					prev_value = value;
-				} else {
-					// Any variable setting that contains '\n' will be read as 
-					// separate lines into the line variable.  Subsequent lines
-					// after the first line (which contains '=') takes us to
-					// this else case.  We try to restore the original setting
-					// by concatenating the value of line with previous value,
-					// with a \n replaced in between, and saving the new value with
-					// the previous key.
-					if (prev_key != null) {
-						if (prev_value != null) {
-							prev_value = prev_value + '\n' + line;
-						} else {
-							prev_value = line;
-						}
-						envVars.setProperty(prev_key, prev_value);
-					} else {
-						envVars.setProperty(line, ""); //$NON-NLS-1$
-					}
-				}
-				if (check_ready && br.ready() == false) {
-					break;
-				}
-			}
-		} catch (IOException e) {
-		} finally {
-			try {
-				if (in != null) {
-					in.close();
-				}
-			} catch (IOException e) {
-			}
-			try {
-				if (p != null) {
-					p.waitFor();
-				}
-			} catch (InterruptedException e) {
-			}
-		}
+		rawVars = new ArrayList<String>();
+		Map<String,String> envMap = System.getenv();
+		for (String var : envMap.keySet()) {
+	        String value = envMap.get(var);
+			envVars.setProperty(var, value);
+			rawVars.add(var + "=" + value); //$NON-NLS-1$
+        }
 		rawVars.trimToSize();
 		return (Properties)envVars.clone();
 	}
@@ -122,7 +42,8 @@ public class EnvironmentReader {
 	}
 
 	public static String[] getRawEnvVars() {
-		getEnvVars();
+		if (rawVars==null) 
+			getEnvVars();
 		return rawVars.toArray(new String[0]);
 	}
 }