diff --git a/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/MSVC.cpp b/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/MSVC.cpp
--- a/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/MSVC.cpp
+++ b/clang/lib/Driver/ToolChains/MSVC.cpp
@@ -577,7 +577,9 @@
   // translate 'lld' into 'lld-link', and in the case of the regular msvc
   // linker, we need to use a special search algorithm.
   llvm::SmallString<128> linkPath;
-  StringRef Linker = Args.getLastArgValue(options::OPT_fuse_ld_EQ, "link");
+  StringRef Linker = Args.getLastArgValue(options::OPT_fuse_ld_EQ, CLANG_DEFAULT_LINKER);
+  if (Linker.empty())
+    Linker = "link";
   if (Linker.equals_lower("lld"))
     Linker = "lld-link";