diff --git a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/Makefile.new_t b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/Makefile.new_t
index bba767a4c..c7cd62dda 100644
--- a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/Makefile.new_t
+++ b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/Makefile.new_t
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 # You can set these variables from the command line.
 SPHINXOPTS    =
-SPHINXBUILD   = python -msphinx
+SPHINXBUILD   = sphinx-build
 SPHINXPROJ    = {{ project_fn }}
 SOURCEDIR     = {{ rsrcdir }}
 BUILDDIR      = {{ rbuilddir }}
diff --git a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/Makefile_t b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/Makefile_t
index fdcf05691..5505f23f5 100644
--- a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/Makefile_t
+++ b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/Makefile_t
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 
 # You can set these variables from the command line.
 SPHINXOPTS    =
-SPHINXBUILD   = python -msphinx
+SPHINXBUILD   = sphinx-build
 PAPER         =
 BUILDDIR      = {{ rbuilddir }}
 
diff --git a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/make.bat.new_t b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/make.bat.new_t
index a52951ebb..e49ffbe78 100644
--- a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/make.bat.new_t
+++ b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/make.bat.new_t
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ pushd %~dp0
 REM Command file for Sphinx documentation
 
 if "%SPHINXBUILD%" == "" (
-	set SPHINXBUILD=python -msphinx
+	set SPHINXBUILD=sphinx-build
 )
 set SOURCEDIR={{ rsrcdir }}
 set BUILDDIR={{ rbuilddir }}
@@ -16,10 +16,10 @@ if "%1" == "" goto help
 %SPHINXBUILD% >NUL 2>NUL
 if errorlevel 9009 (
 	echo.
-	echo.The Sphinx module was not found. Make sure you have Sphinx installed,
-	echo.then set the SPHINXBUILD environment variable to point to the full
-	echo.path of the 'sphinx-build' executable. Alternatively you may add the
-	echo.Sphinx directory to PATH.
+	echo.The 'sphinx-build' command was not found. Make sure you have Sphinx
+	echo.installed, then set the SPHINXBUILD environment variable to point
+	echo.to the full path of the 'sphinx-build' executable. Alternatively you
+	echo.may add the Sphinx directory to PATH.
 	echo.
 	echo.If you don't have Sphinx installed, grab it from
 	echo.http://sphinx-doc.org/
diff --git a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/make.bat_t b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/make.bat_t
index 03ae9d423..8438b5f7e 100644
--- a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/make.bat_t
+++ b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/make.bat_t
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ REM Command file for Sphinx documentation
 pushd %~dp0
 
 if "%SPHINXBUILD%" == "" (
-	set SPHINXBUILD=python -msphinx
+	set SPHINXBUILD=sphinx-build
 )
 set BUILDDIR={{ rbuilddir }}
 set ALLSPHINXOPTS=-d %BUILDDIR%/doctrees %SPHINXOPTS% {{ rsrcdir }}
@@ -52,20 +52,29 @@ if "%1" == "clean" (
 )
 
 
-REM Check if sphinx-build is available
+REM Check if sphinx-build is available and fallback to Python version if any
 %SPHINXBUILD% 1>NUL 2>NUL
-if errorlevel 1 (
+if errorlevel 9009 goto sphinx_python
+goto sphinx_ok
+
+:sphinx_python
+
+set SPHINXBUILD=python -m sphinx.__init__
+%SPHINXBUILD% 2> nul
+if errorlevel 9009 (
 	echo.
-	echo.The Sphinx module was not found. Make sure you have Sphinx installed,
-	echo.then set the SPHINXBUILD environment variable to point to the full
-	echo.path of the 'sphinx-build' executable. Alternatively you may add the
-	echo.Sphinx directory to PATH.
+	echo.The 'sphinx-build' command was not found. Make sure you have Sphinx
+	echo.installed, then set the SPHINXBUILD environment variable to point
+	echo.to the full path of the 'sphinx-build' executable. Alternatively you
+	echo.may add the Sphinx directory to PATH.
 	echo.
 	echo.If you don't have Sphinx installed, grab it from
 	echo.http://sphinx-doc.org/
 	exit /b 1
 )
 
+:sphinx_ok
+
 
 if "%1" == "html" (
 	%SPHINXBUILD% -b html %ALLSPHINXOPTS% %BUILDDIR%/html