diff --git a/include/SDL_config.h.in b/include/SDL_config.h.in
index abb1b447d..13a3f9a03 100644
--- a/include/SDL_config.h.in
+++ b/include/SDL_config.h.in
@@ -28,6 +28,11 @@
 /* General platform specific identifiers */
 #include "SDL_platform.h"
 
+/* Make sure that this isn't included by Visual C++ */
+#ifdef _MSC_VER
+#error You should copy include/SDL_config.h.default to include/SDL_config.h
+#endif
+
 /* C language features */
 #undef const
 #undef inline