diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 10302391..31f37648 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -37,8 +37,9 @@ else()
     set(MELONDS_VERSION_PATCH 0)
 endif()
 
-if (NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE)
-    set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Release)
+if(NOT CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE AND NOT CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES)
+    set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE Release CACHE STRING "Choose the type of build." FORCE)
+    set_property(CACHE CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE PROPERTY STRINGS "Debug" "Release" "MinSizeRel" "RelWithDebInfo")
 endif()
 
 function(detect_architecture symbol arch)
diff --git a/src/frontend/qt_sdl/CMakeLists.txt b/src/frontend/qt_sdl/CMakeLists.txt
index 30cc50e4..850d4194 100644
--- a/src/frontend/qt_sdl/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/frontend/qt_sdl/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -82,11 +82,7 @@ fix_interface_includes(PkgConfig::SDL2 PkgConfig::Slirp PkgConfig::LibArchive)
 
 add_compile_definitions(ARCHIVE_SUPPORT_ENABLED)
 
-if (WIN32 AND (CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE STREQUAL Release))
-    add_executable(melonDS WIN32 ${SOURCES_QT_SDL})
-else()
-    add_executable(melonDS ${SOURCES_QT_SDL})
-endif()
+add_executable(melonDS ${SOURCES_QT_SDL})
 
 if (BUILD_STATIC)
     qt_import_plugins(melonDS INCLUDE Qt::QSvgPlugin)
@@ -113,6 +109,7 @@ elseif (WIN32)
     target_sources(melonDS PUBLIC "${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/melon.rc")
 
     target_link_libraries(melonDS PRIVATE ws2_32 iphlpapi)
+    set_target_properties(melonDS PROPERTIES WIN32_EXECUTABLE $<CONFIG:Release>)
 endif()
 
 if (PORTABLE)