diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 2bc899e5ba..5246a07b1b 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1641,20 +1641,15 @@ ALL_LINGUAS=`cd "$srcdir/po" > /dev/null && ls *.po | sed 's+\.po$++'`
 dnl Cygwin, MinGW and MSVC checks
 LIBVIRT_WIN_CHECK_COMMON
 LIBVIRT_WIN_CHECK_CYGWIN
+LIBVIRT_WIN_CHECK_MINGW
 
 
-MINGW_EXTRA_LDFLAGS=
 dnl libvirt.syms is generated in builddir, but libvirt_qemu.syms is in git;
 dnl hence the asymmetric naming of these two symbol files.
 LIBVIRT_SYMBOL_FILE=libvirt.syms
 LIBVIRT_ADMIN_SYMBOL_FILE=libvirt_admin.syms
 LIBVIRT_LXC_SYMBOL_FILE='$(srcdir)/libvirt_lxc.syms'
 LIBVIRT_QEMU_SYMBOL_FILE='$(srcdir)/libvirt_qemu.syms'
-case "$host" in
-  *-*-mingw*)
-    MINGW_EXTRA_LDFLAGS="-no-undefined"
-    ;;
-esac
 case "$host" in
   *-*-mingw* | *-*-msvc* )
     # Also set the symbol file to .def, so src/Makefile generates libvirt.def
@@ -1671,7 +1666,6 @@ case "$host" in
     VERSION_SCRIPT_FLAGS="-Wl,"
     ;;
 esac
-AC_SUBST([MINGW_EXTRA_LDFLAGS])
 AC_SUBST([LIBVIRT_SYMBOL_FILE])
 AC_SUBST([LIBVIRT_ADMIN_SYMBOL_FILE])
 AC_SUBST([LIBVIRT_LXC_SYMBOL_FILE])
diff --git a/m4/virt-win-mingw.m4 b/m4/virt-win-mingw.m4
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3003bcf031
--- /dev/null
+++ b/m4/virt-win-mingw.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+dnl The MinGW check
+dnl
+dnl Copyright (C) 2016 Red Hat, Inc.
+dnl
+dnl This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+dnl modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+dnl License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+dnl version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+dnl
+dnl This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+dnl but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+dnl MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
+dnl Lesser General Public License for more details.
+dnl
+dnl You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+dnl License along with this library.  If not, see
+dnl <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+dnl
+
+AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_WIN_CHECK_MINGW], [
+  MINGW_EXTRA_LDFLAGS=
+  case "$host" in
+    *-*-mingw*)
+      MINGW_EXTRA_LDFLAGS="-no-undefined"
+  esac
+
+  AC_SUBST([MINGW_EXTRA_LDFLAGS])
+])