diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 611dc0eb..f09c0bcf 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -99,6 +99,16 @@ ifeq ($(filter $(UNAME_S),Linux Darwin DragonFly FreeBSD NetBSD OpenBSD Haiku),$
 	CXXFLAGS += -pthread
 endif
 
+# detect Windows
+ifneq ($(findstring _NT,$(UNAME_S)),)
+	_WIN32 := 1
+endif
+
+# Windows Sockets 2 (Winsock) for network-capable apps
+ifeq ($(_WIN32),1)
+	LWINSOCK2 := -lws2_32
+endif
+
 # Architecture specific
 # TODO: probably these flags need to be tweaked on some architectures
 #       feel free to update the Makefile for your architecture and send a pull request or issue
@@ -360,7 +370,7 @@ quantize: examples/quantize/quantize.cpp $(WHISPER_OBJ) $(SRC_COMMON)
 	$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) examples/quantize/quantize.cpp $(SRC_COMMON) $(WHISPER_OBJ) -o quantize $(LDFLAGS)
 
 server: examples/server/server.cpp $(SRC_COMMON) $(WHISPER_OBJ)
-	$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) examples/server/server.cpp $(SRC_COMMON) $(WHISPER_OBJ) -o server $(LDFLAGS)
+	$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) examples/server/server.cpp $(SRC_COMMON) $(WHISPER_OBJ) -o server $(LDFLAGS) $(LWINSOCK2)
 
 stream: examples/stream/stream.cpp $(SRC_COMMON) $(SRC_COMMON_SDL) $(WHISPER_OBJ)
 	$(CXX) $(CXXFLAGS) examples/stream/stream.cpp $(SRC_COMMON) $(SRC_COMMON_SDL) $(WHISPER_OBJ) -o stream $(CC_SDL) $(LDFLAGS)
diff --git a/examples/server/CMakeLists.txt b/examples/server/CMakeLists.txt
index f5302276..1e8c9213 100644
--- a/examples/server/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/examples/server/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ include(DefaultTargetOptions)
 
 target_link_libraries(${TARGET} PRIVATE common whisper ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT})
 
-# Check if the compiler is MinGW
-if(MINGW)
-    # Link the necessary libraries for SSL and Winsock
-    target_link_libraries(${TARGET} PRIVATE -lcrypt32 -lssl -lcrypto -lws2_32)
+if (WIN32)
+    target_link_libraries(${TARGET} PRIVATE ws2_32)
 endif()