diff --git a/hooks/windows/check-arch.js b/hooks/windows/check-arch.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..3ae6660a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hooks/windows/check-arch.js
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+module.exports = function(ctx) {
+    if (ctx.opts && ctx.opts.platforms && ctx.opts.platforms.indexOf('windows') > -1
+        && ctx.opts.options) {
+        var path = require('path');
+        var shell = ctx.requireCordovaModule('shelljs');
+        var nopt = ctx.requireCordovaModule('nopt');
+
+        // parse and validate args
+        var args = nopt({
+            'archs': [String],
+            'appx': String,
+            'phone': Boolean,
+            'win': Boolean,
+            'bundle': Boolean,
+            'packageCertificateKeyFile': String,
+            'packageThumbprint': String,
+            'publisherId': String,
+            'buildConfig': String
+        }, {}, ctx.opts.options.argv, 0);
+
+        // Check if --appx flag is passed so that we have a project build version override:  
+        var isWin10 = args.appx && args.appx.toLowerCase() === 'uap';
+
+        // Else check "windows-target-version" preference:
+        if (!isWin10) {
+            var configXml = shell.ls(path.join(ctx.opts.projectRoot, 'config.xml'))[0];
+
+            var reTargetVersion = /<preference\s+name="windows-target-version"\s+value="(.+)"\s*\/>/i;
+            var targetVersion = shell.grep(reTargetVersion, configXml);
+
+            var result = reTargetVersion.exec(targetVersion);
+            if (result !== null) {
+                var match = result[1];
+                isWin10 = parseInt(match.split('.'), 10) > 8;
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Non-AnyCPU arch is required for Windows 10 (UWP) projects only:
+        if (isWin10) {
+            var rawArchs = ctx.opts.options.archs || args.archs;
+            var archs = rawArchs ? rawArchs.split(' ') : [];
+
+            // Avoid "anycpu" arch:
+            if (archs.length === 0 || archs.some(function (item) {
+                return item.toLowerCase() === 'anycpu';
+            })) {
+                throw new Error('You must specify an architecture to include the proper ZXing library version.'
+                + '\nUse \'cordova run windows -- --arch="x64"\' or \'cordova run windows -- --arch="arm" --phone --device\' for example.');
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/plugin.xml b/plugin.xml
index ffc0f56a..704089ce 100644
--- a/plugin.xml
+++ b/plugin.xml
@@ -112,6 +112,8 @@
         <framework src="src/windows/lib/WinRTBarcodeReader.csproj" custom="true" type="projectReference" versions="&lt;=8.1"/>
 
         <asset src="src/windows/assets/plugin-barcodeScanner.css" target="css/plugin-barcodeScanner.css" />
+        <hook src="hooks/windows/check-arch.js" type="before_compile" />
+        <hook src="hooks/windows/check-arch.js" type="before_run" />
     </platform>
 
     <!-- Windows Phone 8 -->