diff --git a/Brewfile b/Brewfile
index 0c7834c1b..bcc125280 100644
--- a/Brewfile
+++ b/Brewfile
@@ -2,3 +2,4 @@ brew 'make'
 brew 'cmake'
 brew 'openssl'
 brew 'ninja'
+brew 'googletest'
diff --git a/cmake/Libraries.cmake b/cmake/Libraries.cmake
index f4af3f78d..c3955ec92 100644
--- a/cmake/Libraries.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Libraries.cmake
@@ -12,9 +12,12 @@ macro(configure_libs)
 
   config_qt()
   configure_openssl()
-  configure_gtest()
   configure_coverage()
 
+  if(BUILD_TESTS)
+    configure_gtest()
+  endif()
+
 endmacro()
 
 #
@@ -398,9 +401,26 @@ macro(configure_gtest)
   option(SYSTEM_GTEST "Use system GoogleTest" ${DEFAULT_SYSTEM_GTEST})
   if(SYSTEM_GTEST)
     message(STATUS "Using system GoogleTest")
-    find_package(GTest REQUIRED)
-    set(GTEST_LIBS GTest::GTest GTest::Main)
+    find_package(GTest)
+    if(GTEST_FOUND)
+      # Ordinarily, we'd use GTEST_LIBRARIES, but it seems that these do not always export
+      # the required libraries (e.g. gmock) on some OS (e.g macOS with brew).
+      set(GTEST_LIB GTest::gtest)
+      set(GMOCK_LIB GTest::gmock)
+    else()
+      message(
+        FATAL_ERROR
+          "Google Test not found, re-configure with -DBUILD_TESTS=OFF or -DSYSTEM_GTEST=OFF"
+      )
+    endif()
   else()
+    if(NOT EXISTS ${gtest_base_dir})
+      message(
+        FATAL_ERROR
+          "Google Test subproject not found, reconfigure with -DBUILD_TESTS=OFF"
+      )
+    endif()
+
     message(STATUS "Building GoogleTest")
     set(gtest_dir ${gtest_base_dir}/googletest)
     set(gmock_dir ${gtest_base_dir}/googlemock)
@@ -416,7 +436,8 @@ macro(configure_gtest)
       set_target_properties(gmock PROPERTIES COMPILE_FLAGS "-w")
     endif()
 
-    set(GTEST_LIBS gtest gmock)
+    set(GTEST_LIB gtest)
+    set(GMOCK_LIB gmock)
   endif()
 
 endmacro()
@@ -497,7 +518,14 @@ function(find_openssl_dir_win32 result)
 endfunction()
 
 macro(configure_wintoast)
-  # WinToast is a pretty niche library, and there doesn't seem to be a package for it.
+  # WinToast is a pretty niche library, and there doesn't seem to be an installable package,
+  # so we rely on building from source.
   file(GLOB WINTOAST_DIR ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/subprojects/WinToast-*)
-  include_directories(${WINTOAST_DIR}/include)
+  if(WINTOAST_DIR)
+    set(HAVE_WINTOAST true)
+    include_directories(${WINTOAST_DIR}/include)
+  else()
+    message(WARNING "WinToast subproject not found")
+  endif()
+
 endmacro()
diff --git a/config.yaml b/config.yaml
index b1e2424cc..a91b48d62 100644
--- a/config.yaml
+++ b/config.yaml
@@ -120,6 +120,8 @@ config:
           qt6-base-devel \
           qt6-tools-devel \
           gtk3-devel \
+          googletest-devel \
+          googlemock-devel \
           pugixml-devel \
           libei-devel \
           libportal-devel
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index bd548f8de..b6f12a908 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -3,16 +3,17 @@
 
 project('synergy', 'cpp')
 
-gtest = dependency('gtest', required: false)
-if not gtest.found()
+system_gtest = get_option('system_gtest')
+if system_gtest
+  dependency('gtest', required: false)
+else
   subproject('gtest')
 endif
 
 if host_machine.system() == 'windows'
-  wintoast = dependency('wintoast', required: false)
-  if not wintoast.found()
-    subproject('wintoast')
-  endif
+  # WinToast is a niche lib which is not commonly installed, 
+  # so depend only on the subproject.
+  subproject('wintoast')
 endif
 
 if host_machine.system() == 'linux'
diff --git a/meson_options.txt b/meson_options.txt
index f6261128c..10145db8a 100644
--- a/meson_options.txt
+++ b/meson_options.txt
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
+option('system_gtest', type: 'boolean', value: true, description: 'Use system gtest')
 option('system_libportal', type: 'boolean', value: true, description: 'Use system libportal')
 option('system_libei', type: 'boolean', value: true, description: 'Use system libei')
diff --git a/res/config.h.in b/res/config.h.in
index e2ff66492..d5af31e46 100644
--- a/res/config.h.in
+++ b/res/config.h.in
@@ -180,3 +180,6 @@
 
 /* Define if libei ei_device_start_emulating takes a sequence number */
 #cmakedefine HAVE_LIBEI_SEQUENCE_NUMBER ${HAVE_LIBEI_SEQUENCE_NUMBER}
+
+/* Define if wintoast is available */
+#cmakedefine HAVE_WINTOAST ${HAVE_WINTOAST}
diff --git a/scripts/install_deps.py b/scripts/install_deps.py
index 5179bab7a..9cb354173 100755
--- a/scripts/install_deps.py
+++ b/scripts/install_deps.py
@@ -50,6 +50,10 @@ def main():
         traceback.print_exc()
         error = True
 
+    colors = env.import_colors()
+    print()
+    print(f"{colors.SUCCESS_TEXT} Dependencies installed")
+
     if args.pause_on_exit:
         input("Press enter to continue...")
 
diff --git a/scripts/lib/colors.py b/scripts/lib/colors.py
index 64956cf4d..b61697ad6 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/colors.py
+++ b/scripts/lib/colors.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ from colorama import Fore  # type: ignore
 
 colorama.init()
 
+SUCCESS_TEXT = f"{Fore.GREEN}Success:{Fore.RESET}"
 ERROR_TEXT = f"{Fore.RED}Error:{Fore.RESET}"
 WARNING_TEXT = f"{Fore.YELLOW}Warning:{Fore.RESET}"
 HINT_TEXT = f"{Fore.LIGHTBLUE_EX}Hint:{Fore.RESET}"
diff --git a/scripts/lib/env.py b/scripts/lib/env.py
index c783b6f0a..bc8592bf5 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/env.py
+++ b/scripts/lib/env.py
@@ -227,3 +227,9 @@ def get_app_version():
 
     with open("VERSION", "r") as f:
         return f.read().strip()
+
+
+def import_colors():
+    import lib.colors as colors
+
+    return colors
diff --git a/scripts/lib/meson.py b/scripts/lib/meson.py
index 8da6c2f12..bd1fe6e54 100644
--- a/scripts/lib/meson.py
+++ b/scripts/lib/meson.py
@@ -7,8 +7,15 @@ meson_bin = env.get_python_executable("meson")
 
 
 def setup():
-    reconfigure = "--reconfigure" if os.path.exists(build_dir) else ""
-    cmd_utils.run([meson_bin, "setup", build_dir, reconfigure], print_cmd=True)
+    cmd = [meson_bin, "setup", build_dir]
+
+    if env.is_windows():
+        cmd.append("-Dsystem_gtest=false")
+
+    if os.path.exists(build_dir):
+        cmd.append("--reconfigure")
+
+    cmd_utils.run(cmd, print_cmd=True)
 
 
 def compile():
diff --git a/src/lib/synergy/CMakeLists.txt b/src/lib/synergy/CMakeLists.txt
index 3a0e59244..e92017bac 100644
--- a/src/lib/synergy/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/lib/synergy/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -21,7 +21,11 @@ file(GLOB sources "*.cpp" "languages/*.cpp")
 if(WIN32)
   file(GLOB arch_headers "win32/*.h")
   file(GLOB arch_sources "win32/*.cpp")
-  list(APPEND arch_sources ${WINTOAST_DIR}/src/wintoastlib.cpp)
+
+  if(HAVE_WINTOAST)
+    list(APPEND arch_sources ${WINTOAST_DIR}/src/wintoastlib.cpp)
+  endif()
+
 elseif(UNIX)
   file(GLOB arch_headers "unix/*.h")
   file(GLOB arch_sources "unix/*.cpp")
diff --git a/src/lib/synergy/win32/AppUtilWindows.cpp b/src/lib/synergy/win32/AppUtilWindows.cpp
index 2821404c4..81908bf39 100644
--- a/src/lib/synergy/win32/AppUtilWindows.cpp
+++ b/src/lib/synergy/win32/AppUtilWindows.cpp
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 /*
  * synergy -- mouse and keyboard sharing utility
- * Copyright (C) 2012-2016 Symless Ltd.
+ * Copyright (C) 2012 Symless Ltd.
  * Copyright (C) 2002 Chris Schoeneman
  *
  * This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
  */
 
 #include "synergy/win32/AppUtilWindows.h"
+
 #include "arch/IArchTaskBarReceiver.h"
 #include "arch/win32/ArchMiscWindows.h"
 #include "arch/win32/XArchWindows.h"
@@ -31,15 +32,17 @@
 #include "synergy/ArgsBase.h"
 #include "synergy/Screen.h"
 #include "synergy/XSynergy.h"
-#include "wintoastlib.h"
 
 #include <VersionHelpers.h>
+#include <Windows.h>
 #include <conio.h>
 #include <iostream>
 #include <memory>
 #include <sstream>
 
-#include <Windows.h>
+#if HAVE_WINTOAST
+#include "wintoastlib.h"
+#endif
 
 AppUtilWindows::AppUtilWindows(IEventQueue *events)
     : m_events(events),
@@ -198,6 +201,7 @@ HKL AppUtilWindows::getCurrentKeyboardLayout() const {
   return layout;
 }
 
+#if HAVE_WINTOAST
 class WinToastHandler : public WinToastLib::IWinToastHandler {
 public:
   WinToastHandler() {}
@@ -207,9 +211,11 @@ public:
   void toastDismissed(WinToastDismissalReason state) const override {}
   void toastFailed() const override {}
 };
+#endif
 
 void AppUtilWindows::showNotification(
     const String &title, const String &text) const {
+#if HAVE_WINTOAST
   LOG(
       (CLOG_INFO "showing notification, title=\"%s\", text=\"%s\"",
        title.c_str(), text.c_str()));
@@ -247,4 +253,7 @@ void AppUtilWindows::showNotification(
         CLOG_DEBUG "failed to show toast notification, error code: %d", error));
     return;
   }
+#else
+  LOG((CLOG_INFO "toast notifications are not supported"));
+#endif
 }
diff --git a/src/test/CMakeLists.txt b/src/test/CMakeLists.txt
index 8236ac4cb..6547a849d 100644
--- a/src/test/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/test/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -129,8 +129,6 @@ macro(config_test_deps)
   include_directories(${CMAKE_BINARY_DIR}/src/lib/gui/gui_autogen/include)
 
   set(test_libs
-      gtest
-      gmock
       arch
       base
       client
@@ -144,7 +142,8 @@ macro(config_test_deps)
       ipc
       license
       gui
-      ${GTEST_LIBS}
+      ${GMOCK_LIB}
+      ${GTEST_LIB}
       ${libs})
 
 endmacro()