diff --git a/lib/g3-daemon/Cargo.toml b/lib/g3-daemon/Cargo.toml
index 3b95c2929..4a3e80dae 100644
--- a/lib/g3-daemon/Cargo.toml
+++ b/lib/g3-daemon/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,7 +14,6 @@ cfg-if.workspace = true
 slog = { workspace = true, features = ["max_level_trace", "release_max_level_info"] }
 slog-scope = "4"
 slog-stdlog = "4.1"
-daemonize = "0.5"
 futures-util.workspace = true
 async-trait.workspace = true
 yaml-rust.workspace = true
@@ -48,6 +47,9 @@ g3-http = { workspace = true, optional = true }
 [target.'cfg(target_os = "linux")'.dependencies]
 g3-journal.workspace = true
 
+[target.'cfg(unix)'.dependencies]
+daemonize = "0.5"
+
 [features]
 default = []
 register = ["g3-yaml/http", "dep:http", "dep:serde_json", "dep:g3-http"]
diff --git a/lib/g3-daemon/src/daemonize.rs b/lib/g3-daemon/src/daemonize.rs
index 6cee3d941..1b26740c0 100644
--- a/lib/g3-daemon/src/daemonize.rs
+++ b/lib/g3-daemon/src/daemonize.rs
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@
 use std::fs::OpenOptions;
 
 use anyhow::anyhow;
-use daemonize::Daemonize;
 use log::debug;
 
 use crate::opts::DaemonArgs;
@@ -30,7 +29,10 @@ pub fn check_enter(args: &DaemonArgs) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     Ok(())
 }
 
+#[cfg(unix)]
 fn enter(args: &DaemonArgs) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    use daemonize::Daemonize;
+
     let stdout = OpenOptions::new().write(true).open("/dev/null")?;
     let stderr = OpenOptions::new().write(true).open("/dev/null")?;
     let mut daemonize = Daemonize::new()
@@ -44,3 +46,8 @@ fn enter(args: &DaemonArgs) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
 
     daemonize.start().map_err(|e| anyhow!("daemonize: {e}"))
 }
+
+#[cfg(windows)]
+fn enter(_args: &DaemonArgs) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    Err(anyhow!("daemon mode is not implemented on Windows"))
+}