diff --git a/hatch_cpp/config.py b/hatch_cpp/config.py
index 9e9c4d8..1b53dff 100644
--- a/hatch_cpp/config.py
+++ b/hatch_cpp/config.py
@@ -93,7 +93,9 @@ def generate(self):
 
     def execute(self):
         for command in self.commands:
-            system_call(command)
+            ret = system_call(command)
+            if ret != 0:
+                raise RuntimeError(f"hatch-cpp build command failed with exit code {ret}: {command}")
         return self.commands
 
     def cleanup(self):
diff --git a/hatch_cpp/toolchains/common.py b/hatch_cpp/toolchains/common.py
index 4a42b27..133728a 100644
--- a/hatch_cpp/toolchains/common.py
+++ b/hatch_cpp/toolchains/common.py
@@ -323,7 +323,9 @@ def get_compile_flags(self, library: HatchCppLibrary, build_type: BuildType = "r
             flags += " " + " ".join(f"/U{macro}" for macro in effective_undef_macros)
             flags += " /EHsc /DWIN32"
             if library.std:
-                flags += f" /std:{library.std}"
+                # MSVC minimum is c++14; clamp older standards
+                std = library.std if library.std not in ("c++11", "c++0x") else "c++14"
+                flags += f" /std:{std}"
         # clean
         while flags.count("  "):
             flags = flags.replace("  ", " ")