diff --git a/extras/scripts/build-windows.py b/extras/scripts/build-windows.py
index 3476990963f7869f54f3922f450292dc742fabdb..a76f20de1c5d661b09d11630c28fee9999f0a39c 100644
--- a/extras/scripts/build-windows.py
+++ b/extras/scripts/build-windows.py
@@ -190,7 +190,15 @@ def init_submodules():
     """Initialize any git submodules in the project."""
     print("Initializing submodules...")
 
-    if execute_cmd(["git", "submodule", "update", "--init", "--recursive"], False):
+    # Init the client submodules for Windows other than the daemon.
+    submodules = [
+        "3rdparty/qrencode-win32",
+        "3rdparty/SortFilterProxyModel",
+        "3rdparty/md4c",
+        "3rdparty/tidy-html5",
+    ]
+    if execute_cmd(["git", "submodule", "update", "--init" ] + submodules,
+                   False):
         print("Submodule initialization error.")
         sys.exit(1)