diff --git a/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx b/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
index 959d32c07..91c6df7f0 100644
--- a/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmSystemTools.cxx
@@ -898,7 +898,9 @@ bool RunCommandViaPopen(const char* command,
     {
     commandInDir = command;
     }
+#ifndef __VMS
   commandInDir += " 2>&1";
+#endif
   command = commandInDir.c_str();
   const int BUFFER_SIZE = 4096;
   char buffer[BUFFER_SIZE];