diff --git a/script/bootstrap b/script/bootstrap
index e9288428b..ae7b8d94f 100755
--- a/script/bootstrap
+++ b/script/bootstrap
@@ -20,32 +20,34 @@ function executeCommands(commands, done, index) {
     done(null);
 }
 
-verifyRequirements();
-
-var apmInstallPath = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'apm');
-if (!fs.existsSync(apmInstallPath))
+function postVerification() {
+  var apmInstallPath = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'apm');
+  if (!fs.existsSync(apmInstallPath))
   fs.mkdirSync(apmInstallPath);
-if (!fs.existsSync(path.join(apmInstallPath, 'node_modules')))
+  if (!fs.existsSync(path.join(apmInstallPath, 'node_modules')))
   fs.mkdirSync(path.join(apmInstallPath, 'node_modules'));
 
-var apmPath = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'apm', 'node_modules', 'atom-package-manager', 'bin', 'apm')
-var apmFlags = process.env.JANKY_SHA1 || process.argv.indexOf('--no-color') !== -1 ? '--no-color' : '';
+  var apmPath = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'apm', 'node_modules', 'atom-package-manager', 'bin', 'apm')
+  var apmFlags = process.env.JANKY_SHA1 || process.argv.indexOf('--no-color') !== -1 ? '--no-color' : '';
 
-var npmPath = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'build', 'node_modules', '.bin', 'npm');
-var initialNpmCommand = fs.existsSync(npmPath) ? npmPath : 'npm';
-var npmFlags = ' --userconfig=' + path.resolve('.npmrc') + ' ';
+  var npmPath = path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'build', 'node_modules', '.bin', 'npm');
+  var initialNpmCommand = fs.existsSync(npmPath) ? npmPath : 'npm';
+  var npmFlags = ' --userconfig=' + path.resolve('.npmrc') + ' ';
 
-var packagesToDedupe = ['fs-plus', 'humanize-plus', 'oniguruma', 'roaster', 'season'];
-var echoNewLine = process.platform == 'win32' ? 'echo.' : 'echo';
+  var packagesToDedupe = ['fs-plus', 'humanize-plus', 'oniguruma', 'roaster', 'season'];
+  var echoNewLine = process.platform == 'win32' ? 'echo.' : 'echo';
 
-var commands = [
+  var commands = [
   {command: initialNpmCommand + npmFlags + 'install --quiet', options: {cwd: path.resolve(__dirname, '..', 'build'), ignoreStdout: true}},
   {command: npmPath + npmFlags + 'install --quiet', options: {cwd: apmInstallPath, ignoreStdout: true}},
   echoNewLine,
   apmPath + ' clean ' + apmFlags,
   apmPath + ' install --quiet ' + apmFlags,
   apmPath + ' dedupe --quiet ' + apmFlags + ' ' + packagesToDedupe.join(' '),
-];
+  ];
 
-process.chdir(path.dirname(__dirname));
-executeCommands(commands, process.exit);
+  process.chdir(path.dirname(__dirname));
+  executeCommands(commands, process.exit);
+}
+
+verifyRequirements(postVerification);
diff --git a/script/utils/verify-requirements.js b/script/utils/verify-requirements.js
index 1cf84c263..261e56f36 100644
--- a/script/utils/verify-requirements.js
+++ b/script/utils/verify-requirements.js
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
 var path = require('path');
 var fs = require('fs');
+var cp = require('child_process');
+var execFile = cp.execFile;
+var pythonPath = process.env.PYTHON;
 
-module.exports = function() {
+module.exports = function(cb) {
   verifyNode();
-  verifyPython27();
+  verifyPython27(cb);
 };
 
 function verifyNode() {
@@ -16,17 +19,54 @@ function verifyNode() {
   }
 }
 
-function verifyPython27() {
-  if (process.platform == 'win32') {
-    var pythonPath = process.env.PYTHON;
+function verifyPython27(cb) {
+  if (process.platform !== 'win32') {
+    cb();
+  } else {
+    var pythonExecutable;
     if (!pythonPath) {
       var systemDrive = process.env.SystemDrive || 'C:\\';
       pythonPath = path.join(systemDrive, 'Python27');
+
+      if (fs.existsSync(pythonPath)) {
+        pythonExecutable = path.join(pythonPath, 'python');
+      } else {
+        pythonExecutable = 'python';
+      }
+    } else {
+      pythonExecutable = pythonPath;
     }
 
-    if (!fs.existsSync(pythonPath)) {
-      console.warn("Python 2.7 is required to build Atom. Python 2.7 must be installed at '" + pythonPath + "' or the PYTHON env var must be set to '/path/to/Python27/python.exe'");
-      process.exit(1);
-    }
+    checkPythonVersion(pythonExecutable, cb);
   }
 }
+
+function checkPythonVersion (python, cb) {
+  var pythonRequiredMessage = "Python 2.7 is required to build Atom. Python 2.7 must be installed at '" + pythonPath + "', or the PYTHON env var must be set to '/path/to/Python27/python.exe', or the Python install directory must be in the path.";
+
+  execFile(python, ['-c', 'import platform; print(platform.python_version());'], { env: process.env }, function (err, stdout) {
+    if (err) {
+      console.log(pythonRequiredMessage);
+      process.exit(1);
+    }
+
+    var version = stdout.trim()
+    if (~version.indexOf('+')) {
+      version = version.replace(/\+/g, '')
+    }
+    if (~version.indexOf('rc')) {
+      version = version.replace(/rc(.*)$/ig, '')
+    }
+
+    // Atom requires python 2.7 or better (but not python 3) for node-gyp
+    var versionArray = version.split('.').map(function(num) { return +num; });
+    var goodPythonVersion = (versionArray[0] === 2 && versionArray[1] >= 7)
+    if (!goodPythonVersion) {
+      console.log(pythonRequiredMessage);
+      process.exit(1);
+    }
+
+    // Finally, if we've gotten this far, callback to resume the install process.
+    cb();
+  });
+}