diff --git a/builds/unix/configure.raw b/builds/unix/configure.raw
index 7a795cbc0..0acd9ee81 100644
--- a/builds/unix/configure.raw
+++ b/builds/unix/configure.raw
@@ -962,8 +962,17 @@ case "$CFLAGS" in
 esac
 
 # Check for pthreads
-
-AX_PTHREAD([have_pthread=yes], [have_pthread=no])
+# AX_PTHREAD([have_pthread=yes], [have_pthread=no])
+# XXX Disable pthread for mingw toolchain on Windows
+# https://github.com/fonttools/ttfautohint-py/pull/12
+have_pthread=no
+case "$host_os" in
+  mingw*)
+    ;;
+  *)
+    AX_PTHREAD([have_pthread=yes], [have_pthread=no])
+    ;;
+esac
 
 # Check for Python and docwriter
 PYTHON_MIN_VERSION=3.5