diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a83881fe29..f7c9f50541 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1643,6 +1643,7 @@ LIBVIRT_WIN_CHECK_COMMON
 LIBVIRT_WIN_CHECK_CYGWIN
 LIBVIRT_WIN_CHECK_MINGW
 LIBVIRT_WIN_CHECK_SYMBOLS
+LIBVIRT_WIN_CHECK_WINDRES
 
 
 case "$host" in
@@ -1658,15 +1659,6 @@ esac
 AC_SUBST([VERSION_SCRIPT_FLAGS])
 
 
-dnl Look for windres to build a Windows icon resource.
-case "$host" in
-  *-*-mingw* | *-*-cygwin* | *-*-msvc* )
-    AC_CHECK_TOOL([WINDRES], [windres], [])
-    ;;
-esac
-AM_CONDITIONAL([WITH_WIN_ICON], [test "$WINDRES" != ""])
-
-
 dnl Driver-Modules library support
 LIBVIRT_ARG_DRIVER_MODULES
 LIBVIRT_CHECK_DRIVER_MODULES
@@ -2017,6 +2009,7 @@ AC_MSG_NOTICE([])
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([Windows])
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([])
 LIBVIRT_WIN_RESULT_COMMON
+LIBVIRT_WIN_RESULT_WINDRES
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([])
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([Test suite])
 AC_MSG_NOTICE([])
diff --git a/m4/virt-win-windres.m4 b/m4/virt-win-windres.m4
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..af27f231b4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/m4/virt-win-windres.m4
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+dnl The Cygwin, MinGW and MSVC windres checks
+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_WINDRES], [
+  dnl Look for windres to build a Windows icon resource.
+  with_windres=no
+  case "$host" in
+    *-*-mingw* | *-*-cygwin* | *-*-msvc* )
+      AC_CHECK_TOOL([WINDRES], [windres], [])
+      if test "x$WINDRES" != "x"; then
+        with_windres=yes
+      fi
+      ;;
+  esac
+  AM_CONDITIONAL([WITH_WIN_ICON], [test "$with_windres" = "yes"])
+])
+
+AC_DEFUN([LIBVIRT_WIN_RESULT_WINDRES], [
+  LIBVIRT_RESULT([windres], [$with_windres], [$WINDRES])
+])