diff --git a/bin/syncqt b/bin/syncqt
index a074ac71c2..03d7ea6525 100755
--- a/bin/syncqt
+++ b/bin/syncqt
@@ -83,12 +83,7 @@ our $quoted_basedir;
 # Make sure we use Windows line endings for chomp and friends on Windows.
 $INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR = "\r\n" if ($^O eq "msys");
 
-# try to figure out where QtBase is located
-# normally the script location should be enough, if not fall back to
-# QTDIR environment variable. If that doesn't work, later ask the
-# user to use the -qtdir option explicitly.
-my $qtbasedir = $ENV{"QTDIR"};
-$qtbasedir = dirname(dirname($0)) if (!$qtbasedir);
+my $qtbasedir = dirname(dirname($0));
 normalizePath(\$qtbasedir) if (defined $qtbasedir);
 
 # will be defined based on the modules sync.profile
diff --git a/mkspecs/features/default_pre.prf b/mkspecs/features/default_pre.prf
index 4fa55ac645..8f150f399c 100644
--- a/mkspecs/features/default_pre.prf
+++ b/mkspecs/features/default_pre.prf
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ CONFIG = lex yacc warn_on debug exceptions $$CONFIG
             CMP_QDIR = $$QTDIR
             CMP_INSTALL_PREFIX = $$[QT_HOST_PREFIX]
         }
-        contains(CMP_QDIR, $$CMP_INSTALL_PREFIX):QTFWD = -qtdir $$QTDIR -module-fwd $$QTDIR/mkspecs/modules -developer-build
+        contains(CMP_QDIR, $$CMP_INSTALL_PREFIX):QTFWD = -module-fwd $$QTDIR/mkspecs/modules -developer-build
         unset(CMP_QDIR)
         unset(CMP_INSTALL_PREFIX)
     }
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ CONFIG = lex yacc warn_on debug exceptions $$CONFIG
     qtPrepareTool(QMAKE_SYNCQT, syncqt)
 
     isEmpty(QMAKE_SYNCQT_OUTDIR): QMAKE_SYNCQT_OUTDIR = $$OUT_PWD
-    MSG = $$quote($$QMAKE_SYNCQT $$QTFWD -generator $$MAKEFILE_GENERATOR -outdir $$QMAKE_SYNCQT_OUTDIR $$_PRO_FILE_PWD_)
+    MSG = $$quote($$QMAKE_SYNCQT -qtdir $$[QT_HOST_DATA/get] $$QTFWD -generator $$MAKEFILE_GENERATOR -outdir $$QMAKE_SYNCQT_OUTDIR $$_PRO_FILE_PWD_)
     !silent:message($$MSG)
     system($$MSG) {
         # success! Nothing to do