diff --git a/contrib/win32/buildlocal.bat b/contrib/win32/buildlocal.bat
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contrib/win32/buildlocal.bat
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+@echo off
+rem Double-click this file to (re)build Mercurial for Windows in place.
+rem Useful for testing and development.
+cd ..\..
+del /Q mercurial\*.pyd
+del /Q mercurial\*.pyc
+rmdir /Q /S mercurial\locale
+python setup.py build_py -c -d . build_ext -i build_mo
+pause