diff --git a/plugins/provisioners/salt/bootstrap-salt.ps1 b/plugins/provisioners/salt/bootstrap-salt.ps1
index f8e256e6c..6f284a426 100644
--- a/plugins/provisioners/salt/bootstrap-salt.ps1
+++ b/plugins/provisioners/salt/bootstrap-salt.ps1
@@ -21,7 +21,25 @@ $webclient.DownloadFile($url, $file)
 Write-Host "Installing Salt minion..."
 C:\tmp\salt.exe /S
 
-# Wait a bit
-Start-Sleep -s 10
-net start salt-minion
+# Try starting the Salt minion service
+Start-Service -Name "salt-minion" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+$service = Get-Service salt-minion -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+$try = 0
 
+# Retry starting the service 4 times if it's not running
+# and wait 2 seconds between each try
+While (($service.Status -eq "Stopped") -and ($try -ne 4)) {
+  Start-Service -Name "salt-minion" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+  $service = Get-Service salt-minion -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
+  Start-Sleep -s 2
+  $try += 1
+}
+
+# If the salt-minion service is still not running, something probably
+# went wrong and user intervention is required - report failure.
+if ($service.Status -eq "Stopped") {
+  Write-Host "Failed to start Salt minion"
+  exit 1
+}
+
+Write-Host "Salt minion successfully installed"
diff --git a/plugins/provisioners/salt/provisioner.rb b/plugins/provisioners/salt/provisioner.rb
index fa14d3a6c..6d403093c 100644
--- a/plugins/provisioners/salt/provisioner.rb
+++ b/plugins/provisioners/salt/provisioner.rb
@@ -282,8 +282,9 @@ module VagrantPlugins
             if @config.install_master
               @machine.env.ui.info "Calling state.overstate... (this may take a while)"
               if @machine.config.vm.communicator == :winrm
-              	@machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt.exe '*' saltutil.sync_all")
-                @machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt-run.exe state.over") do |type, data|
+                opts = { elevated: true }
+                @machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt.exe '*' saltutil.sync_all", opts)
+                @machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt-run.exe state.over", opts) do |type, data|
                   if @config.verbose
                     @machine.env.ui.info(data)
                   end
@@ -309,8 +310,9 @@ module VagrantPlugins
           @machine.env.ui.info "Calling state.highstate... (this may take a while)"
           if @config.install_master
 	    if @machine.config.vm.communicator == :winrm
-              @machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt.exe '*' saltutil.sync_all")
-              @machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt.exe '*' state.highstate --verbose#{get_loglevel}#{get_colorize}#{get_pillar}") do |type, data|
+              opts = { elevated: true }
+              @machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt.exe '*' saltutil.sync_all", opts)
+              @machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt.exe '*' state.highstate --verbose#{get_loglevel}#{get_colorize}#{get_pillar}", opts) do |type, data|
                 if @config.verbose
                   @machine.env.ui.info(data)
                 end
@@ -325,8 +327,9 @@ module VagrantPlugins
             end
           else
 	    if @machine.config.vm.communicator == :winrm
-              @machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt-call.exe saltutil.sync_all")
-              @machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt-call.exe state.highstate #{get_loglevel}#{get_colorize}#{get_pillar}") do |type, data|
+              opts = { elevated: true }
+              @machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt-call.exe saltutil.sync_all", opts)
+              @machine.communicate.execute("C:\\salt\\salt-call.exe state.highstate #{get_loglevel}#{get_colorize}#{get_pillar}", opts) do |type, data|
                 if @config.verbose
                   @machine.env.ui.info(data)
                 end