diff --git a/MODULE.bazel b/MODULE.bazel
index 2fca2a60ab..1a2a7ef6a0 100644
--- a/MODULE.bazel
+++ b/MODULE.bazel
@@ -151,6 +151,7 @@ single_version_override(
     patch_strip = 1,
     patches = [
         "//patches:rules_rs_build_script_deps_annotation.patch",
+        "//patches:rules_rs_windows_msvc_linker.patch",
     ],
     version = "0.0.96",
 )
@@ -161,8 +162,8 @@ rules_rust.patch(
         # Carry the OpenAI setup fix that makes build-script tools available
         # through their runfiles after the rules_rs upgrade.
         "//patches:rules_rust_build_script_tools_transition.patch",
-        # Keep direct Windows/MSVC links compatible with hermetic LLVM's
-        # non-.lib runtime artifacts.
+        # Prefer Rust's direct linker for Windows/MSVC and keep hermetic
+        # LLVM's non-.lib runtime artifacts compatible with it.
         "//patches:rules_rust_windows_msvc_direct_link_args.patch",
         # Skip transient native-Windows linker outputs while consolidating
         # dependency search paths.
diff --git a/patches/BUILD.bazel b/patches/BUILD.bazel
index eb1fe27b41..62386715f2 100644
--- a/patches/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/patches/BUILD.bazel
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ exports_files([
     "rules_rust_windows_process_wrapper_skip_temp_outputs.patch",
     "rules_cc_rusty_v8_custom_libcxx.patch",
     "rules_rs_build_script_deps_annotation.patch",
+    "rules_rs_windows_msvc_linker.patch",
     "rusty_v8_prebuilt_out_dir.patch",
     "ring_windows_msvc_include_dirs.patch",
     "v8_bazel_rules.patch",
diff --git a/patches/rules_rs_windows_msvc_linker.patch b/patches/rules_rs_windows_msvc_linker.patch
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..66feb78569
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/rules_rs_windows_msvc_linker.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+# What: use Rust's bundled direct linker for Windows x86_64 MSVC toolchains.
+# Scope: standard and bootstrap rules_rs Rust toolchains targeting x86_64 MSVC.
+
+diff --git a/rs/toolchains/declare_rustc_toolchains.bzl b/rs/toolchains/declare_rustc_toolchains.bzl
+--- a/rs/toolchains/declare_rustc_toolchains.bzl
++++ b/rs/toolchains/declare_rustc_toolchains.bzl
+@@ -88,6 +88,7 @@ def declare_rustc_toolchains(
+             llvm_cov = "@llvm//tools:llvm-cov",
+             llvm_profdata = "@llvm//tools:llvm-profdata",
+             linker = select({
++                "@rules_rs//rs/platforms/config:x86_64-pc-windows-msvc": "{}rust-lld".format(rustc_repo_label),
+                 "@platforms//cpu:wasm32": "{}rust-lld".format(rustc_repo_label),
+                 "@platforms//cpu:wasm64": "{}rust-lld".format(rustc_repo_label),
+                 "//conditions:default": None,
diff --git a/patches/rules_rust_windows_msvc_direct_link_args.patch b/patches/rules_rust_windows_msvc_direct_link_args.patch
index ad8160b1e2..aa5fb274e1 100644
--- a/patches/rules_rust_windows_msvc_direct_link_args.patch
+++ b/patches/rules_rust_windows_msvc_direct_link_args.patch
@@ -1,5 +1,18 @@
 --- a/rust/private/rustc.bzl
 +++ b/rust/private/rustc.bzl
+@@ -438,4 +438,11 @@
+     use_bpf_linker = toolchain.target_arch in ("bpfeb", "bpfel") and toolchain.linker
+-    if not ld or toolchain.linker_preference == "rust" or use_bpf_linker:
++    use_windows_msvc_linker = (
++        toolchain.target_arch == "x86_64" and
++        toolchain.target_os == "windows" and
++        toolchain.target_abi == "msvc" and
++        toolchain.linker != None and
++        toolchain.linker_preference != "cc"
++    )
++    if not ld or toolchain.linker_preference == "rust" or use_bpf_linker or use_windows_msvc_linker:
+         ld = toolchain.linker.path
+         ld_is_direct_driver = toolchain.linker_type == "direct"
 @@ -468,11 +468,25 @@
                      filtered_args.append(version)
                      # Keep library search path flags