diff --git a/build_msvc/bitcoin_config.h.in b/build_msvc/bitcoin_config.h.in
index 1716647486..ec69307f50 100644
--- a/build_msvc/bitcoin_config.h.in
+++ b/build_msvc/bitcoin_config.h.in
@@ -41,9 +41,6 @@
 /* Define this symbol to enable ZMQ functions */
 #define ENABLE_ZMQ 1
 
-/* define if external signer support is enabled (requires Boost::Process) */
-#define ENABLE_EXTERNAL_SIGNER /**/
-
 /* Define to 1 if you have the declaration of `be16toh', and to 0 if you
    don't. */
 #define HAVE_DECL_BE16TOH 0
diff --git a/build_msvc/vcpkg.json b/build_msvc/vcpkg.json
index 3557269be0..37b05cc698 100644
--- a/build_msvc/vcpkg.json
+++ b/build_msvc/vcpkg.json
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@
   "dependencies": [
     "berkeleydb",
     "boost-multi-index",
-    "boost-process",
     "boost-signals2",
     "boost-test",
     "sqlite3",
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a7902abbea..cd3a218e36 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1520,9 +1520,19 @@ if test "$use_external_signer" != "no"; then
   CXXFLAGS="$TEMP_CXXFLAGS"
   AC_MSG_RESULT([$have_boost_process])
   if test "$have_boost_process" = "yes"; then
-    use_external_signer="yes"
-    AC_DEFINE([ENABLE_EXTERNAL_SIGNER], [1], [Define if external signer support is enabled])
-    AC_DEFINE([BOOST_PROCESS_USE_STD_FS], [1], [Defined to avoid Boost::Process trying to use Boost Filesystem])
+    case $host in
+      dnl Boost Process for Windows uses Boost ASIO. Boost ASIO performs
+      dnl pre-main init of Windows networking libraries, which we do not
+      dnl want.
+      *mingw*)
+        use_external_signer="no"
+      ;;
+      *)
+        use_external_signer="yes"
+        AC_DEFINE([ENABLE_EXTERNAL_SIGNER], [1], [Define if external signer support is enabled])
+        AC_DEFINE([BOOST_PROCESS_USE_STD_FS], [1], [Defined to avoid Boost::Process trying to use Boost Filesystem])
+      ;;
+    esac
   else
     if test "$use_external_signer" = "yes"; then
       AC_MSG_ERROR([External signing is not supported for this Boost version])