diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 7a36f117e..007daf6e9 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -35,14 +35,7 @@ if(APPLE)
     set(LOKINET_APPLE_BUILD 0)
 endif()
 
-set(RELEASE_MOTTO "A Series of Tubes" CACHE STRING "Release motto")
-
-add_definitions(-DLLARP_VERSION_MAJOR=${lokinet_VERSION_MAJOR})
-add_definitions(-DLLARP_VERSION_MINOR=${lokinet_VERSION_MINOR})
-add_definitions(-DLLARP_VERSION_PATCH=${lokinet_VERSION_PATCH})
-if(RELEASE_MOTTO AND CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE MATCHES "[Rr][Ee][Ll][Ee][Aa][Ss][Ee]")
-  add_definitions(-DLLARP_RELEASE_MOTTO="${RELEASE_MOTTO}")
-endif()
+set(RELEASE_MOTTO "The Current Thing" CACHE STRING "Release motto")
 
 list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/cmake")
 
diff --git a/cmake/Version.cmake b/cmake/Version.cmake
index 45037a081..c967d53e3 100644
--- a/cmake/Version.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Version.cmake
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
+# We do this via a custom command that re-invokes a cmake script because we need the DEPENDS on .git/index so that we will re-run it (to regenerate the commit tag in the version) whenever the current commit changes. If we used a configure_file directly here, it would only re-run when something else causes cmake to re-run.
 
-find_package(Git QUIET)
+set(VERSIONTAG "${GIT_VERSION}")
 set(GIT_INDEX_FILE "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/.git/index")
 if(EXISTS ${GIT_INDEX_FILE} AND ( GIT_FOUND OR Git_FOUND) )
   message(STATUS "Found Git: ${GIT_EXECUTABLE}")
-
   add_custom_command(
     OUTPUT            "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/constants/version.cpp"
     COMMAND           "${CMAKE_COMMAND}"
@@ -12,11 +12,40 @@ if(EXISTS ${GIT_INDEX_FILE} AND ( GIT_FOUND OR Git_FOUND) )
                       "-D" "DEST=${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/constants/version.cpp"
                       "-P" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/GenVersion.cmake"
     DEPENDS           "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/constants/version.cpp.in"
-                      "${GIT_INDEX_FILE}")
+    "${GIT_INDEX_FILE}")
+  if(WIN32)
+    add_custom_command(
+      OUTPUT            "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/version.rc"
+      COMMAND           "${CMAKE_COMMAND}"
+      "-D" "GIT=${GIT_EXECUTABLE}"
+      "-D" "SRC=${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/constants/version.cpp.in"
+      "-D" "DEST=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/version.rc"
+      "-P" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/GenVersion.cmake"
+      DEPENDS           "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/win32/version.rc.in"
+      "${GIT_INDEX_FILE}")
+
+    add_custom_command(
+      OUTPUT            "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lokinet_resource.h"
+      COMMAND           "${CMAKE_COMMAND}"
+      "-D" "GIT=${GIT_EXECUTABLE}"
+      "-D" "SRC=${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/win32/resource.h.in"
+      "-D" "DEST=${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lokinet_resource.h"
+      "-P" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/GenVersion.cmake"
+      DEPENDS           "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/win32/resource.h.in"
+      "${GIT_INDEX_FILE}")
+  endif()
 else()
-  message(STATUS "Git was not found! Setting version to to nogit")
-  set(VERSIONTAG "nogit")
-  configure_file("${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/constants/version.cpp.in" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/constants/version.cpp")
+  configure_file("${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/constants/version.cpp.in" "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/constants/version.cpp" @ONLY)
+  if(WIN32)
+    configure_file("${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/win32/version.rc.in" "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/version.rc" @ONLY)
+    configure_file("${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/win32/resource.h.in" "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lokinet_resource.h" @ONLY)
+  endif()
 endif()
 
-add_custom_target(genversion DEPENDS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/constants/version.cpp")
+add_custom_target(genversion_cpp DEPENDS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/constants/version.cpp")
+if(WIN32)
+  add_custom_target(genversion_rc DEPENDS "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/version.rc" "${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/lokinet_resource.h")
+else()
+  add_custom_target(genversion_rc)
+endif()
+add_custom_target(genversion DEPENDS genversion_cpp genversion_rc)
diff --git a/daemon/CMakeLists.txt b/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
index a565bf96f..a65ed660a 100644
--- a/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/daemon/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ endif()
 
 foreach(exe ${exetargets})
   if(WIN32 AND NOT MSVC_VERSION)
-    target_sources(${exe} PRIVATE ../llarp/win32/version.rc)
+    target_sources(${exe} PRIVATE ${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/version.rc)
     target_link_libraries(${exe} PRIVATE -static-libstdc++ -static-libgcc --static -Wl,--pic-executable,-e,mainCRTStartup,--subsystem,console:5.00)
     target_link_libraries(${exe} PRIVATE ws2_32 iphlpapi)
   elseif(CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME MATCHES "FreeBSD")
diff --git a/llarp/constants/version.cpp.in b/llarp/constants/version.cpp.in
index c21cdc8ee..57156338d 100644
--- a/llarp/constants/version.cpp.in
+++ b/llarp/constants/version.cpp.in
@@ -1,27 +1,16 @@
 #include <constants/version.hpp>
-#include <constants/version.h>
 #include <constants/proto.hpp>
 
-// clang-format off
-#define LLARP_STRINGIFY2(val) #val
-#define LLARP_STRINGIFY(val) LLARP_STRINGIFY2(val)
-
-#define LLARP_VERSION_STR                                       \
-  LLARP_STRINGIFY(LLARP_VERSION_MAJOR)                          \
-  "." LLARP_STRINGIFY(LLARP_VERSION_MINOR) "." LLARP_STRINGIFY( \
-      LLARP_VERSION_PATCH)
-#define LLARP_VERSION_FULL LLARP_VERSION_STR "-@VERSIONTAG@"
-
 namespace llarp
 {
   // clang-format off
-  const std::array<uint16_t, 3> VERSION{{LLARP_VERSION_MAJOR, LLARP_VERSION_MINOR, LLARP_VERSION_PATCH}};
-  const std::array<uint64_t, 4> ROUTER_VERSION{{llarp::constants::proto_version, LLARP_VERSION_MAJOR, LLARP_VERSION_MINOR, LLARP_VERSION_PATCH}};
-  const char* const VERSION_STR   = LLARP_VERSION_STR;
+  const std::array<uint16_t, 3> VERSION{{@lokinet_VERSION_MAJOR@, @lokinet_VERSION_MINOR@, @lokinet_VERSION_PATCH@}};
+  const std::array<uint64_t, 4> ROUTER_VERSION{{llarp::constants::proto_version, @lokinet_VERSION_MAJOR@, @lokinet_VERSION_MINOR@, @lokinet_VERSION_PATCH@}};
+  const char* const VERSION_STR = "@lokinet_VERSION_MAJOR@.@lokinet_VERSION_MINOR@.@lokinet_VERSION_PATCH@";
   const char* const VERSION_TAG   = "@VERSIONTAG@";
-  const char* const VERSION_FULL  = LLARP_NAME "-" LLARP_VERSION_STR "-@VERSIONTAG@";
+  const char* const VERSION_FULL  = "lokinet-@lokinet_VERSION_MAJOR@.@lokinet_VERSION_MINOR@.@lokinet_VERSION_PATCH@-@VERSIONTAG@";
 
-  const char* const RELEASE_MOTTO = LLARP_RELEASE_MOTTO;
-  const char* const DEFAULT_NETID = LLARP_DEFAULT_NETID;
+  const char* const RELEASE_MOTTO = "@RELEASE_MOTTO@";
+  const char* const DEFAULT_NETID = "lokinet";
   // clang-format on
 }  // namespace llarp
diff --git a/llarp/constants/version.h b/llarp/constants/version.h
deleted file mode 100644
index 30893701e..000000000
--- a/llarp/constants/version.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-#pragma once
-
-// Don't include this file directly but rather go through version.hpp instead.
-// This is only here so version.cpp.in and the weird archaic windows build
-// recipies can use the version.
-
-#define LLARP_NAME "lokinet"
-
-#define LLARP_DEFAULT_NETID "lokinet"
-
-#ifndef LLARP_RELEASE_MOTTO
-#define LLARP_RELEASE_MOTTO "(dev build)"
-#endif
-
-#if defined(_WIN32) && defined(RC_INVOKED)
-#define LLARP_VERSION LLARP_VERSION_MAJOR, LLARP_VERSION_MINOR, LLARP_VERSION_PATCH, 0
-
-#define MAKE_TRIPLET(X, Y, Z) TRIPLET_CAT(X, ., Y, ., Z)
-#define TRIPLET_CAT(X, D1, Y, D2, Z) X##D1##Y##D2##Z
-
-#define LLARP_VERSION_TRIPLET \
-  MAKE_TRIPLET(LLARP_VERSION_MAJOR, LLARP_VERSION_MINOR, LLARP_VERSION_PATCH)
-
-#endif
diff --git a/llarp/win32/resource.h b/llarp/win32/resource.h.in
similarity index 74%
rename from llarp/win32/resource.h
rename to llarp/win32/resource.h.in
index d90e55303..477e93b9b 100644
--- a/llarp/win32/resource.h
+++ b/llarp/win32/resource.h.in
@@ -13,3 +13,5 @@
 #define _APS_NEXT_SYMED_VALUE 101
 #endif
 #endif
+// clang-format off
+#define lokinet_VERSION @lokinet_VERSION_MAJOR@, @lokinet_VERSION_MINOR@, @lokinet_VERSION_PATCH@, 0
diff --git a/llarp/win32/version.rc b/llarp/win32/version.rc.in
similarity index 64%
rename from llarp/win32/version.rc
rename to llarp/win32/version.rc.in
index 8b024dccd..23b4e996d 100644
--- a/llarp/win32/version.rc
+++ b/llarp/win32/version.rc.in
@@ -6,19 +6,13 @@
 //
 // Microsoft Visual C++ generated resource script.
 //
-#include "resource.h"
-#include <constants/version.h>
+#include "lokinet_resource.h"
 #ifdef __GNUC__ // make windows rc accept this
 #include <winresrc.h>
 #endif
 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 // English (United States) resources
 
-#define STRINGIZER(version) #version
-
-#define VERSION_STRING(version, codename, revision) \
-  STRINGIZER(version) "-release [" STRINGIZER(codename) "] (rev-" STRINGIZER(revision) ")"
-
 #if !defined(AFX_RESOURCE_DLL) || defined(AFX_TARG_ENU)
 #ifdef _WIN32
 LANGUAGE 1033,1
@@ -56,8 +50,8 @@ END
 //
 
 VS_VERSION_INFO VERSIONINFO
- FILEVERSION LLARP_VERSION
- PRODUCTVERSION LLARP_VERSION
+ FILEVERSION lokinet_VERSION
+ PRODUCTVERSION lokinet_VERSION
  FILEFLAGSMASK 0x17L
 #ifdef _DEBUG
  FILEFLAGS 0x3L
@@ -72,15 +66,15 @@ BEGIN
     BEGIN
         BLOCK "040904b0"
         BEGIN
-            VALUE "Comments", "includes relay/exit functionality, such code is highly experimental on non-Linux targets"
-            VALUE "CompanyName", "Loki Foundation"
-            VALUE "FileDescription", "LokiNET daemon for Microsoft® Windows® NT™"
-            VALUE "FileVersion", VERSION_STRING(LLARP_VERSION_TRIPLET, LLARP_RELEASE_MOTTO, VERSIONTAG)
-            VALUE "InternalName", "llarpd"
-            VALUE "LegalCopyright", "Copyright ©2018-2020 Jeff Becker, Rick V for the Loki Foundation. All rights reserved. This software is provided under the terms of the zlib-libpng licence; see the file LICENSE for details."
-            VALUE "OriginalFilename", "llarpd.exe"
+            VALUE "Comments", "This comment has invoked its 5th ammendment constitutional right to remain silent"
+            VALUE "CompanyName", "OPTF"
+            VALUE "FileDescription", "LokiNET daemon for Windows"
+            VALUE "FileVersion", "@lokinet_VERSION@"
+            VALUE "InternalName", "lokinet"
+            VALUE "LegalCopyright", "Copyright (c) 2018-2022 Jeff Becker, Rick V for the OPTF. This software is provided under the terms of the GPL3; see the file LICENSE for details."
+            VALUE "OriginalFilename", "lokinet.exe"
             VALUE "ProductName", "LokiNET for Windows"
-            VALUE "ProductVersion", VERSION_STRING(LLARP_VERSION_TRIPLET, LLARP_RELEASE_MOTTO, VERSIONTAG)
+            VALUE "ProductVersion", "@lokinet_VERSION@"
         END
     END
     BLOCK "VarFileInfo"