diff --git a/app/plug-in/gimpplugin.c b/app/plug-in/gimpplugin.c
index 7753735425..dce2bb8890 100644
--- a/app/plug-in/gimpplugin.c
+++ b/app/plug-in/gimpplugin.c
@@ -111,10 +111,6 @@ static gboolean   gimp_plug_in_write                  (GIOChannel   *channel,
 static gboolean   gimp_plug_in_flush                  (GIOChannel   *channel,
                                                        gpointer      data);
 
-#if defined G_OS_WIN32 && defined WIN32_32BIT_DLL_FOLDER
-static void       gimp_plug_in_set_dll_directory      (const gchar  *path);
-#endif
-
 #ifndef G_OS_WIN32
 static void       gimp_plug_in_close_waitpid          (GPid          pid,
                                                        gint          status,
@@ -361,39 +357,6 @@ gimp_plug_in_flush (GIOChannel *channel,
   return TRUE;
 }
 
-#if defined G_OS_WIN32 && defined WIN32_32BIT_DLL_FOLDER
-static void
-gimp_plug_in_set_dll_directory (const gchar *path)
-{
-  LPWSTR       w_path;
-  const gchar *install_dir;
-  gchar       *bin_dir;
-  LPWSTR       w_bin_dir;
-  DWORD        BinaryType;
-
-  w_path = NULL;
-  w_bin_dir = NULL;
-  install_dir = gimp_installation_directory ();
-  if (path &&
-      (w_path = g_utf8_to_utf16 (path, -1, NULL, NULL, NULL)) &&
-      GetBinaryTypeW (w_path, &BinaryType) &&
-      BinaryType == SCS_32BIT_BINARY)
-    bin_dir = g_build_filename (install_dir, WIN32_32BIT_DLL_FOLDER, NULL);
-  else
-    bin_dir = g_build_filename (install_dir, "bin", NULL);
-
-  w_bin_dir = g_utf8_to_utf16 (bin_dir, -1, NULL, NULL, NULL);
-  if (w_bin_dir)
-    {
-      SetDllDirectoryW (w_bin_dir);
-      g_free (w_bin_dir);
-    }
-
-  g_free (bin_dir);
-  g_free (w_path);
-}
-#endif
-
 #ifndef G_OS_WIN32
 static void
 gimp_plug_in_close_waitpid (GPid        pid,
@@ -649,9 +612,6 @@ gimp_plug_in_open (GimpPlugIn         *plug_in,
   /* Fork another process. We'll remember the process id so that we
    * can later use it to kill the filter if necessary.
    */
-#if defined G_OS_WIN32 && defined WIN32_32BIT_DLL_FOLDER
-  gimp_plug_in_set_dll_directory (argv[0]);
-#endif
   if (! gimp_spawn_async (argv, envp, spawn_flags, &plug_in->pid, &error))
     {
       gimp_message (plug_in->manager->gimp, NULL, GIMP_MESSAGE_ERROR,
@@ -690,10 +650,6 @@ gimp_plug_in_open (GimpPlugIn         *plug_in,
 
  cleanup:
 
-#if defined G_OS_WIN32 && defined WIN32_32BIT_DLL_FOLDER
-  gimp_plug_in_set_dll_directory (NULL);
-#endif
-
   if (debug)
     g_free (argv);
 
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index caf04fd128..093ff0ebf9 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -703,13 +703,6 @@ appstream = dependency('appstream', version: '>='+appstream_minver)
 
 libarchive = dependency('libarchive')
 
-################################################################################
-# Check for 32-bit DLLs (Win32 64-bit)
-
-if platform_windows and host_cpu_family == 'x86_64'
-  conf.set_quoted('WIN32_32BIT_DLL_FOLDER', get_option('win32-32bits-dll-folder'))
-endif
-
 ################################################################################
 # Check for detailed backtraces support
 
@@ -2219,7 +2212,6 @@ final_message = [
 '''  Dr. Mingw (Win32):             @0@'''.format(drmingw.found()),
 '''  Relocatable Bundle:            @0@'''.format(relocatable_bundle),
 '''  Default ICC directory (Linux): @0@'''.format(icc_directory),
-'''  32-bit DLL folder (Win32):     @0@'''.format(get_option('win32-32bits-dll-folder')),
 '''  Dashboard backtraces:          @0@'''.format(dashboard_backtrace),
 '''  Debug symbols format:          @0@'''.format(debugging_format),
 '''  Binary symlinks:               @0@'''.format(enable_default_bin),
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index c88d94c3bf..bec7012947 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@ option('gimpdir',           type: 'string',  value: '',   description: 'Change d
 option('icc-directory',     type: 'string',  value: '',   description: 'Path to default color profiles for this system')
 option('with-sendmail',     type: 'string',  value: '',   description: 'Use Sendmail instead of Xdg-email')
 
-option('win32-32bits-dll-folder', type: 'string',  value: '32/bin', description: 'alternative folder with 32-bit versions of DLL libraries on Windows')
 option('libunwind',         type: 'boolean', value: true, description: 'Build with libunwind for backtrace')
 option('libbacktrace',      type: 'boolean', value: true, description: 'Build with libbacktrace support')
 option('win-debugging',     type: 'combo',   value: 'native', description: 'Build with native/CodeView debug symbols or with DWARF',