diff --git a/build/windows/gitlab-ci/3_bundle-gimp-uni_base.sh b/build/windows/gitlab-ci/3_bundle-gimp-uni_base.sh
index 27e83c6db2..b31317f60f 100644
--- a/build/windows/gitlab-ci/3_bundle-gimp-uni_base.sh
+++ b/build/windows/gitlab-ci/3_bundle-gimp-uni_base.sh
@@ -157,6 +157,7 @@ if [ "$CI_JOB_NAME" != 'gimp-win-x64-cross' ]; then
 
   bundle "$MSYS_PREFIX" bin/python*.exe
   bundle "$MSYS_PREFIX" lib/python*/
+  clean "$GIMP_DISTRIB" lib/python*/*.pyc
 else
   # Just to ensure there is no introspected files that will output annoying warnings
   # This is needed because meson.build files can have flaws
diff --git a/build/windows/installer/base_gimp3264.iss b/build/windows/installer/base_gimp3264.iss
index a027fd14ae..e37c214ef8 100644
--- a/build/windows/installer/base_gimp3264.iss
+++ b/build/windows/installer/base_gimp3264.iss
@@ -476,8 +476,6 @@ Root: HKA; Subkey: "Software\GIMP {#GIMP_APP_VERSION}\Capabilities\FileAssociati
 Type: files; Name: "{app}\uninst\uninst.inf"
 Type: files; Name: "{app}\lib\gimp\{#GIMP_API_VERSION}\interpreters\lua.interp"
 Type: files; Name: "{app}\lib\gimp\{#GIMP_API_VERSION}\environ\pygimp.env"
-;need to clean out all the generated .pyc files
-Type: filesandordirs; Name: "{app}\Python\*"
 
 
 [Code]
diff --git a/data/environ/pygimp.env b/data/environ/pygimp.env
index e8bd2353fa..3572a9e88c 100644
--- a/data/environ/pygimp.env
+++ b/data/environ/pygimp.env
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 __COMPAT_LAYER=HIGHDPIAWARE
+PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE=1