diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 19afa2882..1b989a589 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -377,6 +377,14 @@ if (ENABLE_QT)
         message(STATUS "Will enable Qt launcher GUI")
         set(HAVE_QT 1)
         include (Translations)
+
+        # extract the Qt root direction, since we need it for a few things
+        if (TARGET Qt5::qmake)
+            get_target_property(_qt5_qmake_path Qt5::qmake LOCATION)
+            get_filename_component(FG_QT_BIN_DIR ${_qt5_qmake_path} DIRECTORY)
+            get_filename_component(FG_QT_ROOT_DIR ${FG_QT_BIN_DIR} DIRECTORY)
+        endif()
+
     else()
         # don't try to build FGQCanvas if Qt wasn't found correctly
         set(ENABLE_FGQCANVAS OFF)
diff --git a/src/Main/CMakeLists.txt b/src/Main/CMakeLists.txt
index 3435a392e..18b1a8a41 100644
--- a/src/Main/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/Main/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -136,13 +136,7 @@ if(ENABLE_METAR)
 endif()
 
 if (MSVC)
-  if (TARGET Qt5::qmake)
-    # property is the full path to qmake.exe
-    get_target_property(_qt5_qmake_path Qt5::qmake LOCATION)
-    get_filename_component(_qt5_bin_dir ${_qt5_qmake_path} DIRECTORY)
-    file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${_qt5_bin_dir}" _qt5_bin_dir_native)
-  endif()
-
+  file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${FG_QT_BIN_DIR}" _qt5_bin_dir_native)
   file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${MSVC_3RDPARTY_ROOT}/${MSVC_3RDPARTY_DIR}/bin" _msvc_3rdparty_bin_dir)
   file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR}" _install_bin_dir)
 
@@ -150,11 +144,7 @@ if (MSVC)
   VS_GLOBAL_LocalDebuggerEnvironment "PATH=${_install_bin_dir};${_msvc_3rdparty_bin_dir};${_qt5_bin_dir_native}")
 endif()
 
-if (TARGET Qt5::qmake)
-    get_target_property(_qt5_qmake_path Qt5::qmake LOCATION)
-    get_filename_component(_qt5_bin_dir ${_qt5_qmake_path} DIRECTORY)
-    get_filename_component(_qt5_root_dir ${_qt5_bin_dir} DIRECTORY)
-
+if (FG_QT_ROOT_DIR)
     # for QtPlatformHeaders
-    target_include_directories(fgfs PRIVATE ${_qt5_root_dir}/include)
+    target_include_directories(fgfs PRIVATE ${FG_QT_ROOT_DIR}/include)
 endif()
diff --git a/test_suite/CMakeLists.txt b/test_suite/CMakeLists.txt
index 9fdf38b90..77e0ba2cb 100644
--- a/test_suite/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test_suite/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -155,19 +155,19 @@ target_link_libraries(fgfs_test_suite ${CPPUNIT_LIBRARIES})
 
 # target to run the tests
 if (MSVC)
-  if (TARGET Qt5::qmake)
-    # property is the full path to qmake.exe
-    get_target_property(_qt5_qmake_path Qt5::qmake LOCATION)
-    get_filename_component(_qt5_bin_dir ${_qt5_qmake_path} DIRECTORY)
-    file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${_qt5_bin_dir}" _qt5_bin_dir_native)
-  endif()
+    file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${FG_QT_BIN_DIR}" _qt5_bin_dir_native)
+    file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${MSVC_3RDPARTY_ROOT}/${MSVC_3RDPARTY_DIR}/bin" _msvc_3rdparty_bin_dir)
+    file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR}" _install_bin_dir)
 
-  file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${MSVC_3RDPARTY_ROOT}/${MSVC_3RDPARTY_DIR}/bin" _msvc_3rdparty_bin_dir)
-  file(TO_NATIVE_PATH "${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/${CMAKE_INSTALL_BINDIR}" _install_bin_dir)
-
-  set(CMAKE_MSVCIDE_RUN_PATH "${_install_bin_dir};${_msvc_3rdparty_bin_dir};${_qt5_bin_dir_native}")
+    set(CMAKE_MSVCIDE_RUN_PATH "${_install_bin_dir};${_msvc_3rdparty_bin_dir};${_qt5_bin_dir_native}")
 endif()
 
+if (FG_QT_ROOT_DIR)
+    # for QtPlatformHeaders
+    target_include_directories(fgfs_test_suite PRIVATE ${FG_QT_ROOT_DIR}/include)
+endif()
+
+
 add_custom_target(test_suite
     ${TEST_SUITE_COMMAND}
     DEPENDS fgfs_test_suite