diff --git a/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/pe.go b/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/pe.go
index 266e165920c..0167986c51f 100644
--- a/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/pe.go
+++ b/src/cmd/link/internal/ld/pe.go
@@ -753,13 +753,19 @@ func (f *peFile) writeSymbols(ctxt *Link) {
 		if ctxt.IsExternal() {
 			peSymType = IMAGE_SYM_TYPE_NULL
 		} else {
-			peSymType = IMAGE_SYM_DTYPE_ARRAY<<8 + IMAGE_SYM_TYPE_STRUCT
+			// Microsoft's PE documentation is contradictory. It says that the symbol's complex type
+			// is stored in the pesym.Type most significant byte, but MSVC, LLVM, and mingw store it
+			// in the 4 high bits of the less significant byte.
+			peSymType = IMAGE_SYM_DTYPE_ARRAY<<4 + IMAGE_SYM_TYPE_STRUCT
 		}
 		sect, value, err := f.mapToPESection(ldr, s, ctxt.LinkMode)
 		if err != nil {
-			if t == sym.SDYNIMPORT || t == sym.SHOSTOBJ || t == sym.SUNDEFEXT {
-				peSymType = IMAGE_SYM_DTYPE_FUNCTION << 8
-			} else {
+			switch t {
+			case sym.SDYNIMPORT, sym.SHOSTOBJ, sym.SUNDEFEXT:
+				// Microsoft's PE documentation says that the basic type for a function should be
+				// IMAGE_SYM_TYPE_VOID, but the reality is that it uses IMAGE_SYM_TYPE_NULL instead.
+				peSymType = IMAGE_SYM_DTYPE_FUNCTION<<4 + IMAGE_SYM_TYPE_NULL
+			default:
 				ctxt.Errorf(s, "addpesym: %v", err)
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/src/cmd/link/internal/loadpe/ldpe.go b/src/cmd/link/internal/loadpe/ldpe.go
index 7ad4db9052b..00af640b741 100644
--- a/src/cmd/link/internal/loadpe/ldpe.go
+++ b/src/cmd/link/internal/loadpe/ldpe.go
@@ -672,7 +672,10 @@ func (state *peLoaderState) readpesym(pesym *pe.COFFSymbol) (*loader.SymbolBuild
 
 	var s loader.Sym
 	var bld *loader.SymbolBuilder
-	switch uint8(pesym.Type >> 8) {
+	// Microsoft's PE documentation is contradictory. It says that the symbol's complex type
+	// is stored in the pesym.Type most significant byte, but MSVC, LLVM, and mingw store it
+	// in the 4 high bits of the less significant byte.
+	switch uint8(pesym.Type&0xf0) >> 4 {
 	default:
 		return nil, 0, fmt.Errorf("%s: invalid symbol type %d", symname, pesym.Type)