diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index ae7e094fa..8c2145e5e 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -114,6 +114,8 @@ if (STATIC_LINK)
   message(STATUS "setting static library suffix search")
 endif()
 
+include(cmake/gui-option.cmake)
+
 include(cmake/solaris.cmake)
 include(cmake/win32.cmake)
 include(cmake/macos.cmake)
diff --git a/cmake/gui-option.cmake b/cmake/gui-option.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..323f201fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/gui-option.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+set(default_build_gui OFF)
+if(APPLE OR WIN32)
+  set(default_build_gui ON)
+endif()
+
+option(BUILD_GUI "build electron gui from 'gui' submodule source" ${default_build_gui})
diff --git a/cmake/gui.cmake b/cmake/gui.cmake
index fcb81b2fd..7bf8cc27b 100644
--- a/cmake/gui.cmake
+++ b/cmake/gui.cmake
@@ -1,22 +1,15 @@
-set(default_build_gui OFF)
+
 set(default_gui_target pack)
 if(APPLE)
-  set(default_build_gui ON)
   set(default_gui_target macos:raw)
 elseif(WIN32)
-  set(default_build_gui ON)
   set(default_gui_target win32)
+  set(GUI_EXE "" CACHE FILEPATH "path to an externally built lokinet gui.exe")
 endif()
 
-if(WIN32)
-  option(GUI_EXE "path to an externally built lokinet gui.exe" OFF)
-endif()
-
-option(BUILD_GUI "build electron gui from 'gui' submodule source" ${default_build_gui})
 set(GUI_YARN_TARGET "${default_gui_target}" CACHE STRING "yarn target for building the GUI")
 set(GUI_YARN_EXTRA_OPTS "" CACHE STRING "extra options to pass into the yarn build command")
 
-
 if (BUILD_GUI)
   message(STATUS "Building lokinet-gui")
   # allow manually specifying yarn with -DYARN=