diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index b714335ae..d9b413bf6 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ except ImportError:
 else:
     build_libtorrent = False
 
-if build_libtorrent:
+if build_libtorrent and os.path.exists("libtorrent"):
     # There isn't a system libtorrent library, so let's build the one included with deluge
     libtorrent = Extension(
         'libtorrent',