diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index 242d6a9ffe6fd..3429c95a17413 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
+# original appveyor config with oqs tests.
 image:
-  - Visual Studio 2017
+  - Visual Studio 2019
 
 platform:
     - x64
@@ -10,6 +11,9 @@ environment:
     matrix:
         - VSVER: 15
 
+init:
+  - ps: iex ((new-object net.webclient).DownloadString('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/appveyor/ci/master/scripts/enable-rdp.ps1'))
+
 configuration:
     - shared
     - plain
@@ -33,12 +37,24 @@ before_build:
     - ps: >-
         If ($env:Configuration -Match "shared") {
             $env:SHARED="no-makedepend"
+            $env:OQSSHARED="ON"
         } ElseIf ($env:Configuration -Match "minimal") {
             $env:SHARED="no-shared no-dso no-makedepend no-aria no-async no-autoload-config no-blake2 no-bf no-camellia no-cast no-chacha no-cmac no-cms no-comp no-ct no-des no-dgram no-dh no-dsa no-dtls no-ec2m no-engine no-filenames no-gost no-idea no-mdc2 no-md4 no-multiblock no-nextprotoneg no-ocsp no-ocb no-poly1305 no-psk no-rc2 no-rc4 no-rmd160 no-seed no-siphash no-sm2 no-sm3 no-sm4 no-srp no-srtp no-ssl3 no-ssl3-method no-ts no-ui-console no-whirlpool no-asm -DOPENSSL_SMALL_FOOTPRINT"
+            $env:OQSSHARED="OFF"
         } Else {
             $env:SHARED="no-shared no-makedepend"
+            $env:OQSSHARED="OFF"
         }
-    - call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" %VCVARS_PLATFORM%
+    - call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" %VCVARS_PLATFORM%
+    # build liboqs
+    - git clone --branch master https://github.com/open-quantum-safe/liboqs.git
+    - cd liboqs
+    - mkdir oqsbuild
+    - cd oqsbuild
+    - cmake .. -GNinja -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=%APPVEYOR_BUILD_FOLDER%\oqs -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DOQS_ENABLE_SIG_SPHINCS=OFF -DOQS_ENABLE_SIG_RAINBOW=OFF -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=%OQSSHARED%
+    - ninja
+    - ninja install
+    - cd %APPVEYOR_BUILD_FOLDER%
     - mkdir _build
     - cd _build
     - perl ..\Configure %TARGET% %SHARED%