diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 979bc55906..67801b06bb 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -727,6 +727,8 @@ if test "$mingw32" = "yes" ; then
   QEMU_CFLAGS="-DWIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN -DWINVER=0x501 $QEMU_CFLAGS"
   # enable C99/POSIX format strings (needs mingw32-runtime 3.15 or later)
   QEMU_CFLAGS="-D__USE_MINGW_ANSI_STDIO=1 $QEMU_CFLAGS"
+  # MinGW needs -mthreads for TLS and macro _MT.
+  QEMU_CFLAGS="-mthreads $QEMU_CFLAGS"
   LIBS="-lwinmm -lws2_32 -liphlpapi $LIBS"
   write_c_skeleton;
   if compile_prog "" "-liberty" ; then