diff --git a/tools/catalog-remote.js b/tools/catalog-remote.js
index dfd1b53adb..f7c8c5b174 100644
--- a/tools/catalog-remote.js
+++ b/tools/catalog-remote.js
@@ -994,5 +994,11 @@ exports.RemoteCatalog = RemoteCatalog;
 // We put this constant here because we don't have any better place that would otherwise cause a cycle
 exports.DEFAULT_TRACK = 'METEOR';
 
+// XXX HACK for windows, because we don't have any working releases
+// in other tracks
+if (process.platform === "win32") {
+  exports.DEFAULT_TRACK = "WINDOWS-PREVIEW";
+}
+
 // The catalog as provided by troposhere (aka atomospherejs.com)
 exports.official = new RemoteCatalog();
diff --git a/tools/utils.js b/tools/utils.js
index cc0a9a08f4..0f0d0f93e1 100644
--- a/tools/utils.js
+++ b/tools/utils.js
@@ -387,10 +387,15 @@ exports.displayRelease = function (track, version, options) {
   options = options || {};
   var prefix = options.noPrefix ? "" : "Meteor ";
 
-  if (track === catalog.DEFAULT_TRACK) {
-    return prefix + version;
+  if (catalog.DEFAULT_TRACK !== "WINDOWS-PREVIEW") {
+    // XXX HACK for windows. In the bottom of catalog-remote.js, we make the
+    // default track for windows be "WINDOWS-PREVIEW", but we want `meteor
+    // --version` to actually show "WINDOWS-PREVIEW@x.y.z" instead of just
+    // "x.y.z".
+    if (track === catalog.DEFAULT_TRACK) {
+      return prefix + version;
+    }
   }
-
   return track + '@' + version;
 };