diff --git a/py/mkrules.mk b/py/mkrules.mk
index b11a886f33..b77f8d600f 100644
--- a/py/mkrules.mk
+++ b/py/mkrules.mk
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ $(BUILD)/%.o: %.c
 # List all native flags since the current build system doesn't have
 # the micropython configuration available. However, these flags are
 # needed to extract all qstrings
-QSTR_GEN_EXTRA_CFLAGS += -D__QSTR_EXTRACT -DN_X64 -DN_X86 -DN_THUMB -DN_ARM
+QSTR_GEN_EXTRA_CFLAGS += -DNO_QSTR -DN_X64 -DN_X86 -DN_THUMB -DN_ARM
 QSTR_GEN_EXTRA_CFLAGS += -I$(BUILD)/tmp
 
 vpath %.c . $(TOP)
diff --git a/py/qstr.c b/py/qstr.c
index 24793ff8a3..61202fb4aa 100644
--- a/py/qstr.c
+++ b/py/qstr.c
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ const qstr_pool_t mp_qstr_const_pool = {
     10,                 // set so that the first dynamically allocated pool is twice this size; must be <= the len (just below)
     MP_QSTRnumber_of,   // corresponds to number of strings in array just below
     {
-#ifndef __QSTR_EXTRACT
+#ifndef NO_QSTR
 #define QDEF(id, str) str,
 #include "genhdr/qstrdefs.generated.h"
 #undef QDEF
diff --git a/py/qstr.h b/py/qstr.h
index 1989ebe962..8c63fbbc8d 100644
--- a/py/qstr.h
+++ b/py/qstr.h
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@
 
 // first entry in enum will be MP_QSTR_NULL=0, which indicates invalid/no qstr
 enum {
-#ifndef __QSTR_EXTRACT
+#ifndef NO_QSTR
 #define QDEF(id, str) id,
 #include "genhdr/qstrdefs.generated.h"
 #undef QDEF
diff --git a/windows/msvc/genhdr.targets b/windows/msvc/genhdr.targets
index ba0681f554..8c2ba8eb21 100644
--- a/windows/msvc/genhdr.targets
+++ b/windows/msvc/genhdr.targets
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ using(var outFile = System.IO.File.CreateText(OutputFile)) {
   <Target Name="MakeQstrDefs" DependsOnTargets="MakeDestDir" Inputs="@(ClCompile)" Outputs="$(QstrDefsCollected)">
     <ItemGroup>
       <PyIncDirs Include="$(PyIncDirs)"/>
-      <PreProcDefs Include="%(ClCompile.PreProcessorDefinitions);__QSTR_EXTRACT;N_X64;N_X86;N_THUMB;N_ARM"/>
+      <PreProcDefs Include="%(ClCompile.PreProcessorDefinitions);NO_QSTR;N_X64;N_X86;N_THUMB;N_ARM"/>
       <PyQstrSourceFiles Include="@(ClCompile)">
         <OutFile>$([System.String]::new('%(FullPath)').Replace('$(PyBaseDir)', '$(DestDir)qstr\'))</OutFile>
       </PyQstrSourceFiles>