diff --git a/backends/template/CMakeLists.txt b/backends/template/CMakeLists.txt
index 52fd6feeebd2e2bdf529aff6ab22f8842bf60a5c..b40d31ef339d60378b0d97ea0ef11d3750b334f5 100644
--- a/backends/template/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/backends/template/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ FILE(GLOB SRC *.c *.cpp)
 
 ADD_EXECUTABLE(spectrum2_template_backend ${SRC})
 
-if (NOT WIN32)
+if (CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCXX)
 target_link_libraries(spectrum2_template_backend transport pthread ${Boost_LIBRARIES} ${SWIFTEN_LIBRARY} ${LOG4CXX_LIBRARIES})
 else()
 include_directories("${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/msvc-deps/protobuf/libprotobuf")