diff --git a/makefile.win32 b/makefile.win32
index 2f39eb4..fce209f 100644
--- a/makefile.win32
+++ b/makefile.win32
@@ -15,8 +15,7 @@
 WINDRES = windres.exe
 CC = gcc
 CXX = g++
-CP = copy /Y
-CP_R = xcopy /S /Y
+CP = copy /y
 RM = del
 MKDIR = mkdir
 # $/ is used as a portable directory separator
@@ -27,7 +26,6 @@ DESTDIR = C:/Program Files/Geany
 
 ifdef MSYS
 CP = cp
-CP_R = cp -r
 RM = rm -f
 / = /
 endif
@@ -62,7 +60,9 @@ clean: deps
 
 # likely requires admin privileges
 # mkdir output is ignored in case dir exists
+# cp ignored because of subdirectories
 # 'copy' seems to only accept / in the destination
+# xcopy has different destination semantics from cp -r, so we can't use it
 install:
 	-$(MKDIR) "$(DESTDIR)"
 	-$(MKDIR) "$(DESTDIR)/bin"
@@ -70,4 +70,10 @@ install:
 	-$(MKDIR) "$(DESTDIR)/lib"
 	$(CP) plugins$/*.dll "$(DESTDIR)/lib"
 	-$(MKDIR) "$(DESTDIR)/data"
-	$(CP_R) data "$(DESTDIR)/data"
+	-$(CP) data$/* "$(DESTDIR)/data"
+	-$(MKDIR) "$(DESTDIR)/data/colorschemes"
+	$(CP) data$/colorschemes$/* "$(DESTDIR)/data/colorschemes"
+	-$(MKDIR) "$(DESTDIR)/data/templates"
+	-$(CP) data$/templates$/* "$(DESTDIR)/data/templates"
+	-$(MKDIR) "$(DESTDIR)/data/templates/files"
+	$(CP) data$/templates$/files$/* "$(DESTDIR)/data/templates/files"