diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 9a3cf647c6..ad7fc14654 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -704,11 +704,7 @@ if test x$use_hardening != xno; then
   AX_CHECK_LINK_FLAG([[-Wl,--high-entropy-va]], [HARDENED_LDFLAGS="$HARDENED_LDFLAGS -Wl,--high-entropy-va"])
   AX_CHECK_LINK_FLAG([[-Wl,-z,relro]], [HARDENED_LDFLAGS="$HARDENED_LDFLAGS -Wl,-z,relro"])
   AX_CHECK_LINK_FLAG([[-Wl,-z,now]], [HARDENED_LDFLAGS="$HARDENED_LDFLAGS -Wl,-z,now"])
-
-  if test x$TARGET_OS != xwindows; then
-    AX_CHECK_COMPILE_FLAG([-fPIE],[PIE_FLAGS="-fPIE"])
-    AX_CHECK_LINK_FLAG([[-pie]], [HARDENED_LDFLAGS="$HARDENED_LDFLAGS -pie"])
-  fi
+  AX_CHECK_LINK_FLAG([[-fPIE -pie]], [PIE_FLAGS="-fPIE"; HARDENED_LDFLAGS="$HARDENED_LDFLAGS -pie"],, [[$CXXFLAG_WERROR]])
 
   case $host in
     *mingw*)