diff --git a/tools/server/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/server/CMakeLists.txt
index f02a2ba3b1..02607c838c 100644
--- a/tools/server/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/server/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
 
+# MSVC emits a PCH bookkeeping symbol that WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS exports as an ambiguous "__"
+
+set(LLAMA_SERVER_PCH ON)
+
+if (BUILD_SHARED_LIBS AND CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID STREQUAL "MSVC")
+    set(LLAMA_SERVER_PCH OFF)
+endif()
+
 # server-context containing the core server logic, used by llama-server and CLI
 
 set(TARGET server-context)
@@ -32,7 +40,10 @@ endif()
 target_include_directories(${TARGET} PRIVATE ../mtmd)
 target_include_directories(${TARGET} PRIVATE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
 target_link_libraries(${TARGET} PUBLIC llama-common mtmd ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT})
-target_precompile_headers(${TARGET} PRIVATE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/common/common.h)
+
+if (LLAMA_SERVER_PCH)
+    target_precompile_headers(${TARGET} PRIVATE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/common/common.h)
+endif()
 
 # llama-server-impl: server logic, reusable by app
 
@@ -50,7 +61,10 @@ set_target_properties(${TARGET} PROPERTIES WINDOWS_EXPORT_ALL_SYMBOLS ON)
 target_include_directories(${TARGET} PUBLIC ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
 target_include_directories(${TARGET} PRIVATE ../mtmd ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
 target_link_libraries(${TARGET} PUBLIC server-context llama-ui cpp-httplib ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT})
-target_precompile_headers(${TARGET} PRIVATE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/common/common.h)
+
+if (LLAMA_SERVER_PCH)
+    target_precompile_headers(${TARGET} PRIVATE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/common/common.h)
+endif()
 
 add_dependencies(${TARGET} llama-ui-assets)