diff --git a/ports/harfbuzz/portfile.cmake b/ports/harfbuzz/portfile.cmake
index 6473f8f73a..6d7ef64534 100644
--- a/ports/harfbuzz/portfile.cmake
+++ b/ports/harfbuzz/portfile.cmake
@@ -51,10 +51,9 @@ if("experimental-api" IN_LIST FEATURES)
 else()
     list(APPEND FEATURE_OPTIONS -Dexperimental_api=false)
 endif()
-#if(VCPKG_TARGET_IS_WINDOWS)
-    #link errors in qt5-base. probably requires changes to the pc files generated by meson
-    #list(APPEND FEATURE_OPTIONS -Dgdi=enabled) # enable gdi helpers and uniscribe shaper backend (windows only)
-#endif()
+if("gdi" IN_LIST FEATURES)
+    list(APPEND FEATURE_OPTIONS -Dgdi=enabled) # enable gdi helpers and uniscribe shaper backend (windows only)
+endif()
 
 if("introspection" IN_LIST FEATURES)
     list(APPEND OPTIONS_DEBUG -Dgobject=enabled -Dintrospection=disabled)
diff --git a/ports/harfbuzz/vcpkg.json b/ports/harfbuzz/vcpkg.json
index c667364e33..9ff93dccf0 100644
--- a/ports/harfbuzz/vcpkg.json
+++ b/ports/harfbuzz/vcpkg.json
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "harfbuzz",
   "version": "8.5.0",
+  "port-version": 1,
   "description": "HarfBuzz OpenType text shaping engine",
   "homepage": "https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz",
   "license": "MIT-Modern-Variant",
@@ -51,6 +52,10 @@
         }
       ]
     },
+    "gdi": {
+      "description": "Enable GDI/Uniscribe support on Windows",
+      "supports": "windows"
+    },
     "glib": {
       "description": "Glib Unicode callbacks support",
       "dependencies": [
diff --git a/versions/baseline.json b/versions/baseline.json
index e58b13252b..3cda3524bb 100644
--- a/versions/baseline.json
+++ b/versions/baseline.json
@@ -3362,7 +3362,7 @@
     },
     "harfbuzz": {
       "baseline": "8.5.0",
-      "port-version": 0
+      "port-version": 1
     },
     "hash-library": {
       "baseline": "8",
diff --git a/versions/h-/harfbuzz.json b/versions/h-/harfbuzz.json
index 5a58d1d58a..e3f5488b60 100644
--- a/versions/h-/harfbuzz.json
+++ b/versions/h-/harfbuzz.json
@@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
 {
   "versions": [
+    {
+      "git-tree": "14cae658d3e86c06b7c572997e729376ef93c90f",
+      "version": "8.5.0",
+      "port-version": 1
+    },
     {
       "git-tree": "d5e91f387f0b4347918c04f3ac94a0643fc72423",
       "version": "8.5.0",