diff --git a/server/Makefile.am b/server/Makefile.am
index 34ec22ad..7f260612 100644
--- a/server/Makefile.am
+++ b/server/Makefile.am
@@ -166,6 +166,8 @@ libserver_la_SOURCES =				\
 	stat.h					\
 	stream-channel.c			\
 	stream-channel.h			\
+	sys-socket.h				\
+	sys-socket.c				\
 	red-stream-device.c			\
 	red-stream-device.h			\
 	sw-canvas.c				\
diff --git a/server/meson.build b/server/meson.build
index 63191d79..34d8eef1 100644
--- a/server/meson.build
+++ b/server/meson.build
@@ -133,6 +133,8 @@ spice_server_sources = [
   'stat.h',
   'stream-channel.c',
   'stream-channel.h',
+  'sys-socket.c',
+  'sys-socket.h',
   'red-stream-device.c',
   'red-stream-device.h',
   'sw-canvas.c',
diff --git a/server/sys-socket.c b/server/sys-socket.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5ac627b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/sys-socket.c
@@ -0,0 +1,210 @@
+/* -*- Mode: C; c-basic-offset: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil -*- */
+/*
+   Copyright (C) 2018 Red Hat, Inc.
+
+   This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+   modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+   License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+   version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+
+   This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+   Lesser General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+   License along with this library; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+*/
+#include <config.h>
+
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <fcntl.h>
+#include <stdbool.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#ifndef _WIN32
+#include <arpa/inet.h>
+#include <netinet/in.h>
+#include <netinet/ip.h>
+#include <netinet/tcp.h>
+#include <sys/socket.h>
+#endif
+
+#include <common/log.h>
+
+#include "sys-socket.h"
+
+#ifdef _WIN32
+// Map Windows socket errors to standard C ones
+// See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms740668(v=vs.85).aspx
+void socket_win32_set_errno(void)
+{
+    int err = EPIPE; // default
+    switch (WSAGetLastError()) {
+    case WSAEWOULDBLOCK:
+    case WSAEINPROGRESS:
+        err = EAGAIN;
+        break;
+    case WSAEINTR:
+        err = EINTR;
+        break;
+    case WSAEBADF:
+        err = EBADF;
+        break;
+    case WSA_INVALID_HANDLE:
+    case WSA_INVALID_PARAMETER:
+    case WSAEINVAL:
+        err = EINVAL;
+        break;
+    case WSAENOTSOCK:
+        err = ENOTSOCK;
+        break;
+    case WSA_NOT_ENOUGH_MEMORY:
+        err = ENOMEM;
+        break;
+    case WSAEPROTONOSUPPORT:
+    case WSAESOCKTNOSUPPORT:
+    case WSAEOPNOTSUPP:
+    case WSAEPFNOSUPPORT:
+    case WSAEAFNOSUPPORT:
+    case WSAVERNOTSUPPORTED:
+        err = ENOTSUP;
+        break;
+    case WSAEFAULT:
+        err = EFAULT;
+        break;
+    case WSAEACCES:
+        err = EACCES;
+        break;
+    case WSAEMFILE:
+        err = EMFILE;
+        break;
+    case WSAENAMETOOLONG:
+        err = ENAMETOOLONG;
+        break;
+    case WSAENOTEMPTY:
+        err = ENOTEMPTY;
+        break;
+    case WSA_OPERATION_ABORTED:
+    case WSAECANCELLED:
+    case WSA_E_CANCELLED:
+        err = ECANCELED;
+        break;
+    case WSAEADDRINUSE:
+        err = EADDRINUSE;
+        break;
+    case WSAENETDOWN:
+        err = ENETDOWN;
+        break;
+    case WSAENETUNREACH:
+        err = ENETUNREACH;
+        break;
+    case WSAENETRESET:
+        err = ENETRESET;
+        break;
+    case WSAECONNABORTED:
+        err = ECONNABORTED;
+        break;
+    case WSAECONNRESET:
+        err = ECONNRESET;
+        break;
+    case WSAEISCONN:
+        err = EISCONN;
+        break;
+    case WSAENOTCONN:
+        err = ENOTCONN;
+        break;
+    case WSAETIMEDOUT:
+        err = ETIMEDOUT;
+        break;
+    case WSAECONNREFUSED:
+        err = ECONNREFUSED;
+        break;
+    case WSAEHOSTUNREACH:
+        err = EHOSTUNREACH;
+        break;
+    case WSAEDESTADDRREQ:
+        err = EDESTADDRREQ;
+        break;
+    case WSAEMSGSIZE:
+        err = EMSGSIZE;
+        break;
+    case WSAEPROTOTYPE:
+        err = EPROTOTYPE;
+        break;
+    case WSAENOPROTOOPT:
+        err = ENOPROTOOPT;
+        break;
+    case WSAEADDRNOTAVAIL:
+        err = EADDRNOTAVAIL;
+        break;
+    case WSAENOBUFS:
+        err = ENOBUFS;
+        break;
+    // TODO
+    case WSAESTALE:
+    case WSAEDISCON:
+    case WSA_IO_INCOMPLETE:
+    case WSA_IO_PENDING:
+    case WSAEALREADY:
+    case WSAESHUTDOWN:
+    case WSAETOOMANYREFS:
+    case WSAELOOP:
+    case WSAEHOSTDOWN:
+    case WSAEPROCLIM:
+    case WSAEUSERS:
+    case WSAEDQUOT:
+    case WSAEREMOTE:
+    case WSASYSNOTREADY:
+    case WSANOTINITIALISED:
+    case WSAENOMORE:
+    case WSAEINVALIDPROCTABLE:
+    case WSAEINVALIDPROVIDER:
+    case WSAEPROVIDERFAILEDINIT:
+    case WSASYSCALLFAILURE:
+    case WSASERVICE_NOT_FOUND:
+    case WSATYPE_NOT_FOUND:
+    case WSA_E_NO_MORE:
+    case WSAEREFUSED:
+    case WSAHOST_NOT_FOUND:
+    case WSATRY_AGAIN:
+    case WSANO_RECOVERY:
+    case WSANO_DATA:
+    case WSA_QOS_RECEIVERS:
+    case WSA_QOS_SENDERS:
+    case WSA_QOS_NO_SENDERS:
+    case WSA_QOS_NO_RECEIVERS:
+    case WSA_QOS_REQUEST_CONFIRMED:
+    case WSA_QOS_ADMISSION_FAILURE:
+    case WSA_QOS_POLICY_FAILURE:
+    case WSA_QOS_BAD_STYLE:
+    case WSA_QOS_BAD_OBJECT:
+    case WSA_QOS_TRAFFIC_CTRL_ERROR:
+    case WSA_QOS_GENERIC_ERROR:
+    case WSA_QOS_ESERVICETYPE:
+    case WSA_QOS_EFLOWSPEC:
+    case WSA_QOS_EPROVSPECBUF:
+    case WSA_QOS_EFILTERSTYLE:
+    case WSA_QOS_EFILTERTYPE:
+    case WSA_QOS_EFILTERCOUNT:
+    case WSA_QOS_EOBJLENGTH:
+    case WSA_QOS_EFLOWCOUNT:
+    case WSA_QOS_EUNKOWNPSOBJ:
+    case WSA_QOS_EPOLICYOBJ:
+    case WSA_QOS_EFLOWDESC:
+    case WSA_QOS_EPSFLOWSPEC:
+    case WSA_QOS_EPSFILTERSPEC:
+    case WSA_QOS_ESDMODEOBJ:
+    case WSA_QOS_ESHAPERATEOBJ:
+    case WSA_QOS_RESERVED_PETYPE:
+        break;
+    }
+    errno = err;
+}
+
+SPICE_CONSTRUCTOR_FUNC(socket_win32_init)
+{
+    WSADATA wsaData;
+    WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2, 2), &wsaData);
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/server/sys-socket.h b/server/sys-socket.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..65062571
--- /dev/null
+++ b/server/sys-socket.h
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+/*
+   Copyright (C) 2018 Red Hat, Inc.
+
+   This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+   modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+   License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+   version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+
+   This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+   Lesser General Public License for more details.
+
+   You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+   License along with this library; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+*/
+
+/* Small compatibility layer for sockets, mostly to make easier portability
+ * for Windows but without loosing performances under Unix, the most supported
+ * system */
+#ifndef RED_SYS_SOCKET_H_
+#define RED_SYS_SOCKET_H_
+
+#ifndef _WIN32
+#  include <sys/socket.h>
+
+#define socket_read(sock, buf, len) read(sock, buf, len)
+#define socket_write(sock, buf, len) write(sock, buf, len)
+#define socket_writev(sock, iov, n) writev(sock, iov, n)
+#define socket_close(sock) close(sock)
+
+#else
+#  include <winsock2.h>
+#  include <windows.h>
+typedef int socklen_t;
+
+// this definition is ABI compatible with WSABUF
+struct iovec {
+    u_long iov_len;
+    void FAR *iov_base;
+};
+
+void socket_win32_set_errno(void);
+
+static inline ssize_t socket_read(int sock, void *buf, size_t count)
+{
+    ssize_t res = recv(sock, buf, count, 0);
+    if (res < 0) {
+        socket_win32_set_errno();
+    }
+    return res;
+}
+
+static inline ssize_t socket_write(int sock, const void *buf, size_t count)
+{
+    ssize_t res = send(sock, buf, count, 0);
+    if (res < 0) {
+        socket_win32_set_errno();
+    }
+    return res;
+}
+
+static inline ssize_t socket_writev(int sock, const struct iovec *iov, int n_iov)
+{
+    DWORD sent;
+    int res = WSASend(sock, (LPWSABUF) iov, n_iov, &sent, 0, NULL, NULL);
+    if (res) {
+        socket_win32_set_errno();
+        return -1;
+    }
+    return sent;
+}
+
+#define socket_close(sock) closesocket(sock)
+
+#define SHUT_RDWR SD_BOTH
+
+static inline int
+socket_getsockopt(int sock, int lvl, int type, void *value, socklen_t *len)
+{
+    int res = getsockopt(sock, lvl, type, value, len);
+    if (res < 0) {
+        socket_win32_set_errno();
+    }
+    return res;
+}
+#undef getsockopt
+#define getsockopt socket_getsockopt
+
+static inline int
+socket_setsockopt(int sock, int lvl, int type, const void *value, socklen_t len)
+{
+    int res = setsockopt(sock, lvl, type, value, len);
+    if (res < 0) {
+        socket_win32_set_errno();
+    }
+    return res;
+}
+#undef setsockopt
+#define setsockopt socket_setsockopt
+
+static inline int
+socket_listen(int sock, int backlog)
+{
+    int res = listen(sock, backlog);
+    if (res < 0) {
+        socket_win32_set_errno();
+    }
+    return res;
+}
+#undef listen
+#define listen socket_listen
+
+static inline int
+socket_bind(int sock, const struct sockaddr *addr, int addrlen)
+{
+    int res = bind(sock, addr, addrlen);
+    if (res < 0) {
+        socket_win32_set_errno();
+    }
+    return res;
+}
+#undef bind
+#define bind socket_bind
+
+static inline int
+socket_accept(int sock, struct sockaddr *addr, int *addrlen)
+{
+    int res = accept(sock, addr, addrlen);
+    if (res < 0) {
+        socket_win32_set_errno();
+    }
+    return res;
+}
+#undef accept
+#define accept socket_accept
+#endif
+
+#endif // RED_SYS_SOCKET_H_