diff --git a/sphinx/quickstart.py b/sphinx/quickstart.py
index a57006fd0..390415ee3 100644
--- a/sphinx/quickstart.py
+++ b/sphinx/quickstart.py
@@ -646,6 +646,14 @@ if "%%1" == "clean" (
 )
 
 
+REM Check if sphinx-build is available and fallback to Python version if any
+%%SPHINXBUILD%% 2> nul
+if errorlevel 9009 goto sphinx_python
+goto sphinx_ok
+
+:sphinx_python
+
+set SPHINXBUILD=python -m sphinx.__init__
 %%SPHINXBUILD%% 2> nul
 if errorlevel 9009 (
 \techo.
@@ -659,6 +667,9 @@ if errorlevel 9009 (
 \texit /b 1
 )
 
+:sphinx_ok
+
+
 if "%%1" == "html" (
 \t%%SPHINXBUILD%% -b html %%ALLSPHINXOPTS%% %%BUILDDIR%%/html
 \tif errorlevel 1 exit /b 1