diff --git a/retroshare-gui/src/retroshare-gui.pro b/retroshare-gui/src/retroshare-gui.pro
index b4f28dc0f..d21d35eb8 100644
--- a/retroshare-gui/src/retroshare-gui.pro
+++ b/retroshare-gui/src/retroshare-gui.pro
@@ -204,7 +204,11 @@ win32 {
 	LIBS += -Wl,--export-all-symbols,--out-implib,lib/libretroshare-gui.a
 
 	# create lib directory
-	QMAKE_PRE_LINK = $(CHK_DIR_EXISTS) lib || $(MKDIR) lib
+	isEmpty(QMAKE_SH) {
+		QMAKE_PRE_LINK = $(CHK_DIR_EXISTS) lib $(MKDIR) lib
+	} else {
+		QMAKE_PRE_LINK = $(CHK_DIR_EXISTS) lib || $(MKDIR) lib
+	}
 
 	DEFINES *= WINDOWS_SYS WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN _USE_32BIT_TIME_T