diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9c64400a73b..a12f27ac213 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -552,7 +552,13 @@ dnl See if posix_memalign is available
 AC_CHECK_FUNC([posix_memalign], [DEFINES="$DEFINES -DHAVE_POSIX_MEMALIGN"])
 
 dnl Check for pthreads
-AX_PTHREAD
+case "$host_os" in
+mingw*)
+    ;;
+*)
+    AX_PTHREAD
+    ;;
+esac
 dnl AX_PTHREADS leaves PTHREAD_LIBS empty for gcc and sets PTHREAD_CFLAGS
 dnl to -pthread, which causes problems if we need -lpthread to appear in
 dnl pkgconfig files.