diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index c7c6c1a47..dd622766a 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -43,6 +43,10 @@ if(APPLE)
   set(CMAKE_XCODE_ATTRIBUTE_CLANG_CXX_LIBRARY "libc++")
 endif()
 
+if(WINDOWS)
+ set(CMAKE_GENERATOR "Visual Studio 17" CACHE STRING INTERNAL "" FORCE)
+endif()
+
 enable_language(C CXX)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 14)
 set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD_REQUIRED ON)
@@ -57,7 +61,6 @@ if(POLICY CMP0135)
   cmake_policy(SET CMP0135 NEW)
 endif()
 
-
 # root directory of the project
 set(PHD_PROJECT_ROOT_DIR ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
 set(phd_src_dir ${PHD_PROJECT_ROOT_DIR}/src)
diff --git a/build/build-win b/build/build-win
index 60f8e7ab7..5880ca685 100755
--- a/build/build-win
+++ b/build/build-win
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ mkdir -p tmp
 cd tmp
 
 cat >run_cmake.bat <<EOF
-"$CMAKE_W" -Wno-dev -G "Visual Studio 17" -A Win32 ${vcpkg_args[@]} "-DwxWidgets_PREFIX_DIRECTORY=%WXWIN%" ..
+"$CMAKE_W" -Wno-dev -A Win32 "${vcpkg_args[@]}" ..
 EOF
 "$CMD" /c run_cmake.bat
 
diff --git a/run_cmake-osx b/run_cmake-osx
index 0649d2f8e..8671acf72 100755
--- a/run_cmake-osx
+++ b/run_cmake-osx
@@ -35,7 +35,6 @@ mkdir -p "$tmp"
 cd "$tmp"
 
 cmake -G "Unix Makefiles" \
-    -DwxWidgets_PREFIX_DIRECTORY="$WXWIN" \
     -DCMAKE_OSX_ARCHITECTURES="$APPLE_ARCH" \
     -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE="$buildtype" \
     "${cmake_extra_args[@]}" \
diff --git a/run_cmake.bat b/run_cmake.bat
index efa9ae753..7d36a0828 100644
--- a/run_cmake.bat
+++ b/run_cmake.bat
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 @mkdir tmp
 @cd tmp
-cmake -Wno-dev -G "Visual Studio 17" -A Win32 "-DwxWidgets_PREFIX_DIRECTORY=%WXWIN%" ..
+cmake -Wno-dev -A Win32 ..
 @cd ..
diff --git a/thirdparty/thirdparty.cmake b/thirdparty/thirdparty.cmake
index ae3c7840b..4a7cf751f 100644
--- a/thirdparty/thirdparty.cmake
+++ b/thirdparty/thirdparty.cmake
@@ -528,6 +528,8 @@ endif()
 #  version >= 3.0, a version of cmake >= 3.0 should be used on Windows
 #  on Linux/OSX it works properly this way).
 
+set(wxWidgets_PREFIX_DIRECTORY $ENV{WXWIN} CACHE PATH "wxWidgets directory")
+
 if(WIN32)
   # wxWidgets
   set(wxWidgets_CONFIGURATION msw CACHE STRING "Set wxWidgets configuration")
@@ -644,7 +646,10 @@ else()
     ## Define LIBNOVA when building Indi from source.
     add_definitions("-DLIBNOVA")
   endif()
-  list(APPEND PHD_EXTERNAL_PROJECT_DEPENDENCIES indi)
+  # adding indi as a dependency allows a developer to build phd2 in
+  # the IDE without explicitly building anything else first, but this
+  # slows down incremental development
+  # list(APPEND PHD_EXTERNAL_PROJECT_DEPENDENCIES indi)
 endif()