diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index eb5b5da4e9b..7c357a1f1b8 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -67,6 +67,8 @@ Tools/Demos
 Build
 -----
 
+- Issue #6716: Quote -x arguments of compileall in MSI installer.
+
 - Issue #7705: Fix linking on FreeBSD.
 
 
diff --git a/Tools/msi/msi.py b/Tools/msi/msi.py
index 84215a12631..63b2399a568 100644
--- a/Tools/msi/msi.py
+++ b/Tools/msi/msi.py
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ def add_ui(db):
               ("VerdanaRed9", "Verdana", 9, 255, 0),
              ])
 
-    compileargs = r'-Wi "[TARGETDIR]Lib\compileall.py" -f -x bad_coding|badsyntax|site-packages|py3_ "[TARGETDIR]Lib"'
+    compileargs = r'-Wi "[TARGETDIR]Lib\compileall.py" -f -x "bad_coding|badsyntax|site-packages|py3_" "[TARGETDIR]Lib"'
     lib2to3args = r'-c "import lib2to3.pygram, lib2to3.patcomp;lib2to3.patcomp.PatternCompiler()"'
     # See "CustomAction Table"
     add_data(db, "CustomAction", [