diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index dbf06c2..74d4c0b 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -38,7 +38,6 @@ log = { version = "0.4.17", features = ["std", "release_max_level_debug"] }
 mimalloc = { version = "0.1.29", default-features = false }
 socket2 = "0.4.4"
 parking_lot = "0.12.1"
-privdrop = "0.5.2"
 rand = "0.8.5"
 rustc-hash = "1.1.0"
 serde = "1.0.137"
@@ -55,6 +54,9 @@ tokio = { version = "1.19.2", features = [
 ] }
 toml = "0.5.9"
 
+[target.'cfg(not(target_family = "windows"))'.dependencies]
+privdrop = "0.5.2"
+
 [dependencies.prometheus]
 optional = true
 version = "0.13.1"
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 310d563..0248da3 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ use futures::prelude::*;
 use globals::*;
 use parking_lot::Mutex;
 use parking_lot::RwLock;
+#[cfg(not(target_family = "windows"))]
 use privdrop::PrivDrop;
 use rand::prelude::*;
 use siphasher::sip128::SipHasher13;
@@ -461,6 +462,7 @@ fn bind_listeners(
     Ok(sockets)
 }
 
+#[cfg(not(target_family = "windows"))]
 fn privdrop(config: &Config) -> Result<(), Error> {
     let mut pd = PrivDrop::default();
     if let Some(user) = &config.user {
@@ -552,6 +554,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), Error> {
     runtime_builder.thread_name("encrypted-dns-");
     let runtime = runtime_builder.build()?;
 
+    #[cfg(not(target_family = "windows"))]
     privdrop(&config)?;
 
     let key_cache_capacity = config.dnscrypt.key_cache_capacity;