diff --git a/src/windows/sbt b/src/windows/sbt
index d1a88bdc8..7037324cd 100644
--- a/src/windows/sbt
+++ b/src/windows/sbt
@@ -1,5 +1,11 @@
 #!/bin/sh
 # sbt launcher script for Cygwin and MSYS
+#
+# Environment:
+# JAVA_HOME - location of a JDK home dir (mandatory)
+# SBT_OPTS  - JVM options (optional)
+# Configuration:
+# sbtconfig.txt found in the SBT_HOME.
 
 if [ -z "$JAVA_HOME" ]; then
 JAVA_CMD=java
@@ -7,8 +13,6 @@ else
 JAVA_CMD=$JAVA_HOME/bin/java
 fi
 
-JAVA_OPTS=-Xmx512M
-
 UDIR=`dirname "$0"`
 if [ -z "$MSYSTEM" ]; then
   WDIR=`cygpath -alm "$UDIR"`
@@ -16,12 +20,16 @@ else
   WDIR=`echo "$UDIR" | sed -e 's~^/\([^/]*\)/~\1:/~'`
 fi
 
+if [ -z "$JAVA_OPTS" ]; then
+  JAVA_OPTS=$(cat "$WDIR/sbtconfig.txt" | sed -e 's/\r//g' -e 's/^#.*$//g' | sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/\n/ /g')
+fi
+
 if [ "_$TERM" = "_xterm" ]; then
   # Let the terminal handle ANSI sequences
   stty -icanon min 1 -echo > /dev/null 2>&1
-  "$JAVA_CMD" $JAVA_OPTS -Djline.terminal=jline.UnixTerminal -jar "$WDIR/sbt-launch.jar" "$@"
+  "$JAVA_CMD" $JAVA_OPTS -Djline.terminal=jline.UnixTerminal $SBT_OPTS -jar "$WDIR/sbt-launch.jar" "$@"
   stty icanon echo > /dev/null 2>&1
 else
   # Use Jansi to intercept ANSI sequences
-  "$JAVA_CMD" $JAVA_OPTS -Dsbt.log.format=true -cp "$WDIR/jansi.jar;$WDIR/sbt-launch.jar;$WDIR/classes" SbtJansiLaunch "$@"
-fi
\ No newline at end of file
+  "$JAVA_CMD" -Dsbt.log.format=true $JAVA_OPTS $SBT_OPTS -cp "$WDIR/jansi.jar;$WDIR/sbt-launch.jar;$WDIR/classes" SbtJansiLaunch "$@"
+fi