diff --git a/src/runner/pythonrunner.cpp b/src/runner/pythonrunner.cpp
index 0924e7f..d482124 100644
--- a/src/runner/pythonrunner.cpp
+++ b/src/runner/pythonrunner.cpp
@@ -1254,8 +1254,10 @@ bool PythonRunner::initPython(const QString &pythonPath)
 
     PySys_SetArgv(0, (wchar_t**)&argBuffer);
 
-    bpy::object mainModule = bpy::import("__main__");
-    bpy::object mainNamespace = mainModule.attr("__dict__");
+    auto os = bpy::import("os");
+    auto mainModule = bpy::import("__main__");
+    auto mainNamespace = mainModule.attr("__dict__");
+    mainNamespace["os"] = os;
     mainNamespace["sys"] = bpy::import("sys");
     mainNamespace["moprivate"] = bpy::import("moprivate");
     mainNamespace["mobase"] = bpy::import("mobase");
@@ -1265,6 +1267,10 @@ bool PythonRunner::initPython(const QString &pythonPath)
               "sys.excepthook = lambda x, y, z: sys.__excepthook__(x, y, z)\n",
                         mainNamespace);
 
+    // add dlls directory
+    const auto dlls = QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath().toStdString() + "/dlls";
+    os.attr("add_dll_directory")(dlls);
+
     configure_python_logging(mainNamespace["mobase"]);
 
     PyEval_SaveThread();