diff --git a/src/csharp/Grpc.Core/NativeDeps.Windows.csproj.include b/src/csharp/Grpc.Core/NativeDeps.Windows.csproj.include
index 04f3b077ace..27d3327efc8 100644
--- a/src/csharp/Grpc.Core/NativeDeps.Windows.csproj.include
+++ b/src/csharp/Grpc.Core/NativeDeps.Windows.csproj.include
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
<Project>
<ItemGroup>
- <Content Include="..\..\..\cmake\build\x64\$(NativeDependenciesConfiguration)\grpc_csharp_ext.dll">
+ <Content Include="..\..\..\cmake\build\grpc_csharp_ext.dll">
<CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
<Link>grpc_csharp_ext.x64.dll</Link>
<Pack>false</Pack>
diff --git a/src/csharp/Grpc.Core/NativeDeps.csproj.include b/src/csharp/Grpc.Core/NativeDeps.csproj.include
index a62c63e11d0..c4569d6bd08 100755
--- a/src/csharp/Grpc.Core/NativeDeps.csproj.include
+++ b/src/csharp/Grpc.Core/NativeDeps.csproj.include
@@ -1,16 +1,5 @@
<!-- Ensures that native libraries are copied to the output directory for Exe targets -->
<Project>
-
- <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(NativeDependenciesConfiguration)' == '' ">
- <NativeDependenciesConfiguration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Debug' ">Debug</NativeDependenciesConfiguration>
- <NativeDependenciesConfiguration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Release' ">Release</NativeDependenciesConfiguration>
- </PropertyGroup>
-
- <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(NativeDependenciesConfigurationUnix)' == '' ">
- <NativeDependenciesConfigurationUnix Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Debug' ">dbg</NativeDependenciesConfigurationUnix>
- <NativeDependenciesConfigurationUnix Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Release' ">opt</NativeDependenciesConfigurationUnix>
- </PropertyGroup>
-
<!-- Autodetect platform -->
<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(OS)' != 'Unix' ">
<NativeDepsPlatform>Windows</NativeDepsPlatform>
diff --git a/tools/internal_ci/windows/grpc_build_artifacts.bat b/tools/internal_ci/windows/grpc_build_artifacts.bat
index 714486f4868..7f8c799268e 100644
--- a/tools/internal_ci/windows/grpc_build_artifacts.bat
+++ b/tools/internal_ci/windows/grpc_build_artifacts.bat
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ set PREPARE_BUILD_INSTALL_DEPS_CSHARP=true
set PREPARE_BUILD_INSTALL_DEPS_PYTHON=true
call tools/internal_ci/helper_scripts/prepare_build_windows.bat || exit /b 1
-python tools/run_tests/task_runner.py -f artifact windows %TASK_RUNNER_EXTRA_FILTERS% -j 4
+python tools/run_tests/task_runner.py -f artifact windows %TASK_RUNNER_EXTRA_FILTERS% -j 4 --inner_jobs 4
set RUNTESTS_EXITCODE=%errorlevel%
bash tools/internal_ci/helper_scripts/store_artifacts_from_moved_src_tree.sh
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_csharp.bat b/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_csharp.bat
index 7892561ae96..45ddabef325 100644
--- a/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_csharp.bat
+++ b/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_csharp.bat
@@ -26,17 +26,22 @@ cd build
mkdir %ARCHITECTURE%
cd %ARCHITECTURE%
-@rem TODO(jtattermusch): is there a better way to force using MSVC?
-@rem select the MSVC compiler explicitly to avoid using gcc from mingw or cygwin
-@rem (both are on path)
-set "MSVC_COMPILER=C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC/bin/cl.exe"
-if "%ARCHITECTURE%" == "x64" (
- set "MSVC_COMPILER=C:/Program Files (x86)/Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0/VC/bin/amd64/cl.exe"
+@rem Use externally provided env to determine build parallelism, otherwise use default.
+if "%GRPC_CSHARP_BUILD_EXT_COMPILER_JOBS%"=="" (
+ set GRPC_CSHARP_BUILD_EXT_COMPILER_JOBS=2
)
+@rem set cl.exe build environment to build with VS2015 tooling
+@rem this is required for Ninja build to work
call "%VS140COMNTOOLS%..\..\VC\vcvarsall.bat" %ARCHITECTURE%
-cmake -G Ninja -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER="%MSVC_COMPILER%" -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER="%MSVC_COMPILER%" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DgRPC_BUILD_TESTS=OFF -DgRPC_MSVC_STATIC_RUNTIME=ON -DgRPC_XDS_USER_AGENT_IS_CSHARP=ON -DgRPC_BUILD_MSVC_MP_COUNT=4 ../../.. || goto :error
-cmake --build . --target grpc_csharp_ext
+@rem restore command echo
+echo on
+
+@rem Select MSVC compiler (cl.exe) explicitly to make sure we don't end up gcc from mingw or cygwin
+@rem (both are on path in kokoro win workers)
+cmake -G Ninja -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER="cl.exe" -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER="cl.exe" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DgRPC_BUILD_TESTS=OFF -DgRPC_MSVC_STATIC_RUNTIME=ON -DgRPC_XDS_USER_AGENT_IS_CSHARP=ON ../../.. || goto :error
+
+ninja -j%GRPC_CSHARP_BUILD_EXT_COMPILER_JOBS% grpc_csharp_ext || goto :error
cd ..\..\..
mkdir -p %ARTIFACTS_OUT%
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_python.bat b/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_python.bat
index b9b058bb28e..94418102ed0 100644
--- a/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_python.bat
+++ b/tools/run_tests/artifacts/build_artifact_python.bat
@@ -32,7 +32,10 @@ set GRPC_PYTHON_BUILD_WITH_CYTHON=1
@rem Allow build_ext to build C/C++ files in parallel
@rem by enabling a monkeypatch. It speeds up the build a lot.
-set GRPC_PYTHON_BUILD_EXT_COMPILER_JOBS=4
+@rem Use externally provided GRPC_PYTHON_BUILD_EXT_COMPILER_JOBS value if set.
+if "%GRPC_PYTHON_BUILD_EXT_COMPILER_JOBS%"=="" (
+ set GRPC_PYTHON_BUILD_EXT_COMPILER_JOBS=4
+)
mkdir -p %ARTIFACTS_OUT%
set ARTIFACT_DIR=%cd%\%ARTIFACTS_OUT%
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/helper_scripts/build_csharp.bat b/tools/run_tests/helper_scripts/build_csharp.bat
index 6972ef04899..12c6270a88e 100644
--- a/tools/run_tests/helper_scripts/build_csharp.bat
+++ b/tools/run_tests/helper_scripts/build_csharp.bat
@@ -20,13 +20,25 @@ mkdir cmake
cd cmake
mkdir build
cd build
-mkdir %ARCHITECTURE%
-cd %ARCHITECTURE%
-cmake -G "Visual Studio 14 2015" -A %ARCHITECTURE% -DgRPC_BUILD_TESTS=OFF -DgRPC_MSVC_STATIC_RUNTIME=ON -DgRPC_XDS_USER_AGENT_IS_CSHARP=ON -DgRPC_BUILD_MSVC_MP_COUNT=%GRPC_RUN_TESTS_JOBS% ../../.. || goto :error
-cmake --build . --target grpc_csharp_ext --config %MSBUILD_CONFIG% || goto :error
+@rem use setlocal/endlocal to prevent the C++ build env variables from polluting the environment for "dotnet build"
+setlocal
+
+@rem set cl.exe build environment to build with VS2015 tooling
+@rem this is required for Ninja build to work
+call "%VS140COMNTOOLS%..\..\VC\vcvarsall.bat" %ARCHITECTURE%
+@rem restore command echo
+echo on
+
+@rem Select MSVC compiler (cl.exe) explicitly to make sure we don't end up gcc from mingw or cygwin
+@rem (both are on path in kokoro win workers)
+cmake -G Ninja -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER="cl.exe" -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER="cl.exe" -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=%MSBUILD_CONFIG% -DgRPC_BUILD_TESTS=OFF -DgRPC_MSVC_STATIC_RUNTIME=ON -DgRPC_XDS_USER_AGENT_IS_CSHARP=ON ../.. || goto :error
+
+ninja -j%GRPC_RUN_TESTS_JOBS% grpc_csharp_ext || goto :error
+
+endlocal
-cd ..\..\..\src\csharp
+cd ..\..\src\csharp
dotnet build --configuration %MSBUILD_CONFIG% Grpc.sln || goto :error
diff --git a/tools/run_tests/helper_scripts/build_csharp.sh b/tools/run_tests/helper_scripts/build_csharp.sh
index 3e0a2fc9ba7..56e6c53347c 100755
--- a/tools/run_tests/helper_scripts/build_csharp.sh
+++ b/tools/run_tests/helper_scripts/build_csharp.sh
@@ -26,10 +26,4 @@ make -j"${GRPC_RUN_TESTS_JOBS}" grpc_csharp_ext
popd
pushd src/csharp
-if [ "$CONFIG" == "gcov" ]
-then
- # overriding NativeDependenciesConfigurationUnix makes C# project pick up the gcov flavor of grpc_csharp_ext
- dotnet build --configuration "$MSBUILD_CONFIG" /p:NativeDependenciesConfigurationUnix=gcov Grpc.sln
-else
- dotnet build --configuration "$MSBUILD_CONFIG" Grpc.sln
-fi
+dotnet build --configuration "$MSBUILD_CONFIG" Grpc.sln