diff --git a/backends/template/CMakeLists.txt b/backends/template/CMakeLists.txt
index b35d57a35ff8db8fe82e3167b00c11e4a412a19f..d0878729bb16d64384f49a4d6a99f062c7cabe07 100644
--- a/backends/template/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/backends/template/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -4,7 +4,16 @@ FILE(GLOB SRC *.c *.cpp)
 
 ADD_EXECUTABLE(spectrum2_template_backend ${SRC})
 
+if (CMAKE_COMPILER_IS_GNUCXX)
+if (NOT WIN32)
 target_link_libraries(spectrum2_template_backend transport pthread ${Boost_LIBRARIES} ${SWIFTEN_LIBRARY} ${LOG4CXX_LIBRARIES})
+else()
+target_link_libraries(spectrum2_template_backend transport ${Boost_LIBRARIES} ${SWIFTEN_LIBRARY} ${LOG4CXX_LIBRARIES})
+endif()
+else()
+include_directories("${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/msvc-deps/protobuf/libprotobuf")
+target_link_libraries(spectrum2_template_backend transport libprotobuf ${Boost_LIBRARIES} ${SWIFTEN_LIBRARY} ${LOG4CXX_LIBRARIES})
+endif()
 
 #INSTALL(TARGETS spectrum2_template_backend RUNTIME DESTINATION bin)