diff --git a/Source/cmDocumentation.cxx b/Source/cmDocumentation.cxx
index ae00e781e3..5e4fd4d2de 100644
--- a/Source/cmDocumentation.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmDocumentation.cxx
@@ -207,6 +207,16 @@ bool cmDocumentation::PrintDocumentation(Type ht, std::ostream& os)
   }
 }
 
+bool cmDocumentation::RequestsGenerators() const
+{
+  return std::any_of(this->RequestedHelpItems.begin(),
+                     this->RequestedHelpItems.end(),
+                     [this](RequestedHelpItem const& rhi) {
+                       return rhi.HelpType == ListGenerators ||
+                         (rhi.HelpType == Help && this->ShowGenerators);
+                     });
+}
+
 bool cmDocumentation::PrintRequestedDocumentation(std::ostream& os)
 {
   int count = 0;
diff --git a/Source/cmDocumentation.h b/Source/cmDocumentation.h
index e23cee9fe9..fef086327f 100644
--- a/Source/cmDocumentation.h
+++ b/Source/cmDocumentation.h
@@ -73,6 +73,9 @@ public:
 
   void SetShowGenerators(bool showGen) { this->ShowGenerators = showGen; }
 
+  /** Whether the requested documentation prints the generator list.  */
+  bool RequestsGenerators() const;
+
   /** Set the program name for standard document generation.  */
   void SetName(std::string const& name);
 
diff --git a/Source/cmakemain.cxx b/Source/cmakemain.cxx
index 00056bfcf5..a49afecfe0 100644
--- a/Source/cmakemain.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmakemain.cxx
@@ -237,7 +237,12 @@ int do_cmake(int ac, char const* const* av)
     std::vector<std::string> args(av, av + ac);
     hcm.SetCacheArgs(args);
 
-    auto generators = hcm.GetGeneratorsDocumentation();
+    // Finding the default generator can query Visual Studio instances,
+    // so do it only when the generator list will be printed.
+    std::vector<cmDocumentationEntry> generators;
+    if (doc.RequestsGenerators()) {
+      generators = hcm.GetGeneratorsDocumentation();
+    }
 
     doc.SetName("cmake");
     doc.SetSection("Name", cmDocumentationName);
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CommandLine/Envgen-bad-version-stdout.txt b/Tests/RunCMake/CommandLine/Envgen-bad-version-stdout.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6d99b049bf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/CommandLine/Envgen-bad-version-stdout.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+^cmake version [0-9]
diff --git a/Tests/RunCMake/CommandLine/RunCMakeTest.cmake b/Tests/RunCMake/CommandLine/RunCMakeTest.cmake
index 8dd85730ab..b2ecbc588b 100644
--- a/Tests/RunCMake/CommandLine/RunCMakeTest.cmake
+++ b/Tests/RunCMake/CommandLine/RunCMakeTest.cmake
@@ -463,6 +463,8 @@ function(run_EnvironmentGenerator)
   run_cmake_command(Envgen-ninja-multi-help ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --help)
   set(ENV{CMAKE_GENERATOR} "NoSuchGenerator")
   run_cmake_command(Envgen-bad-help ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --help)
+  # --version does not print generators, so it does not evaluate them
+  run_cmake_command(Envgen-bad-version ${CMAKE_COMMAND} --version)
   unset(ENV{CMAKE_GENERATOR})
 
   if(RunCMake_GENERATOR MATCHES "Visual Studio")