diff --git a/MantidPlot/src/ApplicationWindow.cpp b/MantidPlot/src/ApplicationWindow.cpp
index 3fa69dd633f1932060d53fc279973fe2ed4731c0..d1e0c82664082c9f92ae4a912fe09a51ffc78ceb 100644
--- a/MantidPlot/src/ApplicationWindow.cpp
+++ b/MantidPlot/src/ApplicationWindow.cpp
@@ -223,6 +223,16 @@ using Mantid::Kernel::ConfigService;
 using Mantid::Kernel::LibraryManager;
 using Mantid::Kernel::Logger;
 
+#if defined(_MSC_VER)
+// MantidPlot embeds a Python interpreter which depends on MSVCRT90.dll. Extension modules
+// can also depend on the same runtime but it exists in the SxS system folder. Even though
+// Python27.dll loads the runtime correctly there is an issue that extension modules
+// using ctypes.cdll.LoadLibrary don't consult the SxS registry and fail to load the correct
+// runtime library. See for example zmq.
+// For more information see https://bugs.python.org/issue24429
+#pragma comment(linker, "\"/manifestdependency:type='win32' name='Microsoft.VC90.CRT' version='9.0.21022.8' processorArchitecture='amd64' publicKeyToken='1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b'\"")
+#endif
+
 namespace {
 /// static logger
 Logger g_log("ApplicationWindow");