diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index a7b86a57..bedc0fa8 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 23/9/18 started 8.7.1
 - update function list in docs [janko-m] 
 - test for g_str_to_ascii() [jcupitt]
+- fix temp file open on Windows and fallback on linux [lovell]
 
 23/12/17 started 8.7.0
 - add magicksave, save image with libMagick [dlemstra]
diff --git a/libvips/iofuncs/vips.c b/libvips/iofuncs/vips.c
index 7cabaff0..c224bdba 100644
--- a/libvips/iofuncs/vips.c
+++ b/libvips/iofuncs/vips.c
@@ -187,37 +187,37 @@ vips__open_image_write( const char *filename, gboolean temp )
 	int flags;
 	int fd;
 
-	flags = MODE_WRITE;
+	fd = -1;
 
 #ifdef O_TMPFILE
 	/* Linux-only extension creates an unlinked file. CREAT and TRUNC must
 	 * be clear. The filename arg to open() must name a directory.
+	 *
+	 * This can fail since not all filesystems support it. In this case,
+	 * we open as a regular file and rely on the delete-on-close
+	 * mechanism, see vips_image_delete(). 
 	 */
 	if( temp ) {
 		char *dirname;
 
-		flags |= O_TMPFILE;
-		flags &= ~O_CREAT;
-		flags &= ~O_TRUNC;
-
 		dirname = g_path_get_dirname( filename ); 
-		fd = vips_tracked_open( dirname, flags, 0666 );
+		fd = vips_tracked_open( dirname, O_TMPFILE | O_RDWR , 0666 );
 		g_free( dirname ); 
 	}
-	else
-		fd = vips_tracked_open( filename, flags, 0666 );
-#else /*!O_TMPFILE*/
-	fd = vips_tracked_open( filename, flags, 0666 );
+#endif /*O_TMPFILE*/
+
+	flags = MODE_WRITE;
 
 #ifdef _O_TEMPORARY
-	/* On Windows, setting _O_TEMPORARY gets the file automatically
-	 * deleted on process exit, even if the processes crashes. See
-	 * vips_image_rewind() for what we do to help on *nix.
+	/* On Windows, setting _O_TEMPORARY will delete the file automatically
+	 * on process exit, even if the processes crashes. 
 	 */
 	if( temp )
 		flags |= _O_TEMPORARY;
 #endif /*_O_TEMPORARY*/
-#endif /*O_TMPFILE*/
+
+	if( fd < 0 )
+		fd = vips_tracked_open( filename, flags, 0666 );
 
 	if( fd < 0 ) {
 		vips_error_system( errno, "VipsImage",