diff --git a/src/cmd/dist/build.go b/src/cmd/dist/build.go
index 64f8f53054..99f517e758 100644
--- a/src/cmd/dist/build.go
+++ b/src/cmd/dist/build.go
@@ -1354,7 +1354,7 @@ func toolenv() []string {
 	return env
 }
 
-var toolchain = []string{"cmd/asm", "cmd/cgo", "cmd/compile", "cmd/link"}
+var toolchain = []string{"cmd/asm", "cmd/cgo", "cmd/compile", "cmd/link", "cmd/preprofile"}
 
 // The bootstrap command runs a build from scratch,
 // stopping at having installed the go_bootstrap command.
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/work/action.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/work/action.go
index c4cee8947c..249c802269 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/work/action.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/work/action.go
@@ -476,12 +476,7 @@ func (p *pgoActor) Act(b *Builder, ctx context.Context, a *Action) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	// TODO(prattmic): This should use go tool preprofile to actually
-	// preprocess the profile. For now, this is a dummy implementation that
-	// simply copies the input to the output. This is technically a valid
-	// implementation because go tool compile -pgofile accepts either a
-	// pprof file or preprocessed file.
-	if err := sh.CopyFile(a.Target, p.input, 0644, false); err != nil {
+	if err := sh.run(".", p.input, nil, cfg.BuildToolexec, base.Tool("preprofile"), "-o", a.Target, "-i", p.input); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo.txt
index 48bba683c1..0ca2105f56 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo.txt
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ go build triv.go
 # build with PGO, should trigger rebuild
 # starting with an empty profile (the compiler accepts it)
 go build -x -pgo=prof -o triv.exe triv.go
-stderr 'cp.*prof' # preprocess PGO profile
+stderr 'preprofile.*-i.*prof'
 stderr 'compile.*-pgoprofile=.*triv.go'
 
 # check that PGO appears in build info
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ go run overwrite.go
 
 # build again, profile content changed, should trigger rebuild, including std
 go build -n -pgo=prof triv.go
-stderr 'cp.*prof' # preprocess PGO profile
+stderr 'preprofile.*-i.*prof'
 stderr 'compile.*-pgoprofile=.*triv.go'
 stderr 'compile.*-p runtime.*-pgoprofile=.*'
 
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ package main
 import (
 	"os"
 	"runtime/pprof"
+	"time"
 )
 
 func main() {
@@ -72,6 +73,10 @@ func main() {
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
 	}
+	// Spin to ensure we get some samples. If we get no samples, the result
+	// is equivalent to an empty profile.
+	start := time.Now()
+	for time.Since(start) < 100*time.Millisecond {}
 	pprof.StopCPUProfile()
 	f.Close()
 }
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo_auto.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo_auto.txt
index aebf83d224..1ae86d4e57 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo_auto.txt
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo_auto.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 
 # use default.pgo for a single main package
 go build -n -pgo=auto -o a1.exe ./a/a1
-stderr 'cp.*default\.pgo' # preprocess PGO profile
+stderr 'preprofile.*-i.*default\.pgo'
 stderr 'compile.*-pgoprofile=.*a1.go'
 
 # check that pgo applied to dependencies
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo_auto_multi.txt b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo_auto_multi.txt
index 88cc49d421..509edb0230 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo_auto_multi.txt
+++ b/src/cmd/go/testdata/script/build_pgo_auto_multi.txt
@@ -3,8 +3,8 @@
 go install -a -n -pgo=auto ./a ./b ./nopgo
 
 # a/default.pgo and b/default.pgo are both preprocessed
-stderr 'cp.*a(/|\\)default\.pgo'
-stderr 'cp.*b(/|\\)default\.pgo'
+stderr 'preprofile.*-i.*a(/|\\\\)default\.pgo'
+stderr 'preprofile.*-i.*b(/|\\\\)default\.pgo'
 
 # a and b built once each with PGO.
 # Ideally we would check that the passed profile is the expected profile (here