diff --git a/src/test/recovery/t/011_crash_recovery.pl b/src/test/recovery/t/011_crash_recovery.pl
index 5fe917978c..10cd98f70a 100644
--- a/src/test/recovery/t/011_crash_recovery.pl
+++ b/src/test/recovery/t/011_crash_recovery.pl
@@ -7,16 +7,8 @@ use PostgresNode;
 use TestLib;
 use Test::More;
 use Config;
-if ($Config{osname} eq 'MSWin32')
-{
 
-	# some Windows Perls at least don't like IPC::Run's start/kill_kill regime.
-	plan skip_all => "Test fails on Windows perl";
-}
-else
-{
-	plan tests => 3;
-}
+plan tests => 3;
 
 my $node = get_new_node('primary');
 $node->init(allows_streaming => 1);
@@ -65,4 +57,5 @@ cmp_ok($node->safe_psql('postgres', 'SELECT pg_current_xact_id()'),
 is($node->safe_psql('postgres', qq[SELECT pg_xact_status('$xid');]),
 	'aborted', 'xid is aborted after crash');
 
-$tx->kill_kill;
+$stdin .= "\\q\n";
+$tx->finish; # wait for psql to quit gracefully
diff --git a/src/test/recovery/t/021_row_visibility.pl b/src/test/recovery/t/021_row_visibility.pl
index b76990dfe0..f6a486bb88 100644
--- a/src/test/recovery/t/021_row_visibility.pl
+++ b/src/test/recovery/t/021_row_visibility.pl
@@ -151,9 +151,12 @@ ok(send_query_and_wait(\%psql_standby,
 					   qr/will_commit.*\n\(1 row\)$/m),
    'finished prepared visible');
 
-# explicitly shut down psql instances - they cause hangs on windows
-$psql_primary{run}->kill_kill;
-$psql_standby{run}->kill_kill;
+# explicitly shut down psql instances gracefully - to avoid hangs
+# or worse on windows
+$psql_primary{stdin}  .= "\\q\n";
+$psql_primary{run}->finish;
+$psql_standby{stdin} .= "\\q\n";
+$psql_standby{run}->finish;
 
 $node_primary->stop;
 $node_standby->stop;