diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f9da9adaa..89269a44d 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8.12)
 include(CTest)
 
-enable_testing()
 #need to define the version of the library
 set(MAJOR_VERSION "9")
 set(MINOR_VERSION "3")
@@ -32,9 +31,10 @@ include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/log4tango/include)
 #source code
 add_subdirectory("log4tango")
 add_subdirectory("cppapi")
-if(NOT WIN32)
+
+if(BUILD_TESTING)
     add_subdirectory("cpp_test_suite")
-endif(NOT WIN32)
+endif()
 
 if(WIN32)
     include(configure/cmake_win.cmake)
diff --git a/INSTALL.md b/INSTALL.md
index 9ee2c7f48..cdc2ad92d 100644
--- a/INSTALL.md
+++ b/INSTALL.md
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 - `-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=<Release|Debug>`
 - `-DCMAKE_VERBOSE_MAKEFILE=true`
 - `-DTANGO_USE_USING_NAMESPACE=<ON|OFF>` choose `OFF` for modern builds
+- `-DBUILD_TESTING=<ON|OFF>` Build the test suite (`ON` by default)
 
 Typical output:
 
diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index ed73b2f2d..bbe6e49ca 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -255,10 +255,10 @@ install:
   - cmd: set PTHREAD_WIN=C:/projects/pthreads-win32/
   #- cmd: cmake -G "%CMAKE_GENERATOR%" -DCMAKE_WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS=TRUE -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=TRUE .
   #- cmd: cmake -G "%CMAKE_GENERATOR%" -DCMAKE_WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS=TRUE .
-  - cmd: cmake -G "%CMAKE_GENERATOR%" -DCMAKE_WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS=TRUE -DIDL_BASE="%IDL_BASE%" -DOMNI_BASE="%OMNI_BASE%" -DZMQ_BASE="%ZMQ_BASE%" -DPTHREAD_WIN=%PTHREAD_WIN% .
+  - cmd: cmake -G "%CMAKE_GENERATOR%" -DCMAKE_WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS=TRUE -DIDL_BASE="%IDL_BASE%" -DOMNI_BASE="%OMNI_BASE%" -DZMQ_BASE="%ZMQ_BASE%" -DPTHREAD_WIN=%PTHREAD_WIN% -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF .
   - cmd: cd c:/projects/debug_build
   #- cmd: cmake -G "%CMAKE_GENERATOR%" -DCMAKE_WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS=TRUE -DBUILD_SHARED_LIBS=TRUE -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug .
-  - cmd: cmake -G "%CMAKE_GENERATOR%" -DCMAKE_WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS=TRUE -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DIDL_BASE="%IDL_BASE%" -DOMNI_BASE="%OMNI_BASE%" -DZMQ_BASE="%ZMQ_BASE%" -DPTHREAD_WIN=%PTHREAD_WIN% .
+  - cmd: cmake -G "%CMAKE_GENERATOR%" -DCMAKE_WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS=TRUE -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DIDL_BASE="%IDL_BASE%" -DOMNI_BASE="%OMNI_BASE%" -DZMQ_BASE="%ZMQ_BASE%" -DPTHREAD_WIN=%PTHREAD_WIN% -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF .
 
 clone_folder: C:\projects\cppTango