diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 4f37ac87..9f7ed1f1 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ option(OPT_SAMPLES "Build the samples" ON)
 option(OPT_BUILD_TESTS "Build the tests" OFF)
 option(OPT_BUILD_STATIC "Build static libraries for the client" ON)
 option(OPT_LOG4CXX "Use log4cxx for logging" ON)
+option(OPT_OUTPUTDEBUGSTRING "Use OutputDebugString logging (only Windows, log4cxx preferred)" OFF)
 
 # Use, i.e. don't skip the full RPATH for the build tree
 set(CMAKE_SKIP_BUILD_RPATH  FALSE)
@@ -136,6 +137,11 @@ endif()
 
 set(MUJINCLIENT_LINK_DIRS)
 
+set(MUJINCLIENT_OUTPUTDEBUGSTRING 0)
+if(OPT_OUTPUTDEBUGSTRING AND MSVC)
+  set(MUJINCLIENT_OUTPUTDEBUGSTRING 1)
+endif()
+
 find_package(PkgConfig)
 set(MUJINCLIENT_LOG4CXX 0)
 if (OPT_LOG4CXX)
diff --git a/config.h.in b/config.h.in
index d6da334a..de79f43e 100644
--- a/config.h.in
+++ b/config.h.in
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@
 
 // whether log4cxx is to be used
 #define MUJINCLIENT_LOG4CXX @MUJINCLIENT_LOG4CXX@
+#define MUJINCLIENT_OUTPUTDEBUGSTRING @MUJINCLIENT_OUTPUTDEBUGSTRING@
 #define MUJIN_USEZMQ @MUJIN_USEZMQ@
 
 #endif
diff --git a/src/controllerclientimpl.cpp b/src/controllerclientimpl.cpp
index 6453fad2..8216ef39 100644
--- a/src/controllerclientimpl.cpp
+++ b/src/controllerclientimpl.cpp
@@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ ControllerClientImpl::ControllerClientImpl(const std::string& usernamepassword,
         _charset = itcodepage->second;
     }
 #endif
-    MUJIN_LOG_INFO("setting character set to " << _charset);
+    MUJIN_LOG_INFO(std::string("setting character set to ")+_charset);
     _SetupHTTPHeadersJSON();
     _SetupHTTPHeadersSTL();
     _SetupHTTPHeadersMultipartFormData();
@@ -1837,7 +1837,7 @@ void ControllerClientImpl::_DeleteDirectoryOnController(const std::string& destu
     CURL_PERFORM(_curl);
     long http_code = 0;
     CURL_INFO_GETTER(_curl, CURLINFO_RESPONSE_CODE, &http_code);
-    MUJIN_LOG_INFO("response code: " << http_code);
+    MUJIN_LOG_INFO(str(boost::format("response code: %d")%http_code));
 }
 
 size_t ControllerClientImpl::_ReadUploadCallback(void *ptr, size_t size, size_t nmemb, void *stream)
diff --git a/src/logging.h b/src/logging.h
index 662d8c6d..51723519 100644
--- a/src/logging.h
+++ b/src/logging.h
@@ -19,6 +19,14 @@
 #define MUJIN_LOG_INFO(msg) LOG4CXX_INFO(logger, msg);
 #define MUJIN_LOG_ERROR(msg) LOG4CXX_ERROR(logger, msg);
 
+#elif MUJINCLIENT_OUTPUTDEBUGSTRING
+
+#define MUJIN_LOGGER(name)
+#define MUJIN_LOG_VERBOSE(msg) // empty
+#define MUJIN_LOG_DEBUG(msg) OutputDebugString(std::string(msg).c_str());
+#define MUJIN_LOG_INFO(msg) OutputDebugString(std::string(msg).c_str());
+#define MUJIN_LOG_ERROR(msg) OutputDebugString(std::string(msg).c_str());
+
 #else
 
 #define MUJIN_LOGGER(name)
diff --git a/src/mujinzmq.cpp b/src/mujinzmq.cpp
index eb1bf1d6..84bcf85b 100644
--- a/src/mujinzmq.cpp
+++ b/src/mujinzmq.cpp
@@ -290,7 +290,7 @@ std::string ZmqClient::Call(const std::string& msg, const double timeout, const
         ss << "Timed out trying to send request.";
         MUJIN_LOG_ERROR(ss.str());
         if (msg.length() > 1000) {
-            MUJIN_LOG_INFO(msg.substr(0,1000) << "...");
+            MUJIN_LOG_INFO(msg.substr(0,1000)+"...");
         } else {
             MUJIN_LOG_INFO(msg);
         }
@@ -354,7 +354,7 @@ std::string ZmqClient::Call(const std::string& msg, const double timeout, const
             } else {
                 MUJIN_LOG_INFO("failed to send");
                 if (msg.length() > 1000) {
-                    MUJIN_LOG_INFO(msg.substr(0,1000) << "...");
+                    MUJIN_LOG_INFO(msg.substr(0,1000)+"...");
                 } else {
                     MUJIN_LOG_INFO(msg);
                 }
@@ -379,7 +379,7 @@ std::string ZmqClient::Call(const std::string& msg, const double timeout, const
         ss << "timed out trying to receive request";
         MUJIN_LOG_ERROR(ss.str());
         if (msg.length() > 1000) {
-            MUJIN_LOG_INFO(msg.substr(0,1000) << "...");
+            MUJIN_LOG_INFO(msg.substr(0,1000)+"...");
         } else {
             MUJIN_LOG_INFO(msg);
         }