diff --git a/nf2ff/nf2ff.pro b/nf2ff/nf2ff.pro
index 7e100ad..1661edf 100644
--- a/nf2ff/nf2ff.pro
+++ b/nf2ff/nf2ff.pro
@@ -35,10 +35,12 @@ win32 {
 !win32 {
     LIBS += -lboost_thread-mt
     LIBS += -ltinyxml
-    # hdf5 (and mpi for parallel hdf5)
+    #vtk
+    isEmpty(VTK_LIBRARYPATH){
+    } else {
+    LIBS +=-L$$VTK_LIBRARYPATH
+    }
     LIBS += -lhdf5_hl -lhdf5
-    LIBS += -lmpi -lmpi_cxx
-    INCLUDEPATH += /usr/include/mpi
 }
 
 # hdf5 compat
diff --git a/openEMS.pro b/openEMS.pro
index 9f21643..dd2959a 100644
--- a/openEMS.pro
+++ b/openEMS.pro
@@ -97,17 +97,22 @@ win32 {
     LIBS += -ltinyxml
     DEFINES += TIXML_USE_STL
     LIBS += -lboost_thread-mt
-    # hdf5 (and mpi for parallel hdf5)
     LIBS += -lhdf5_hl -lhdf5
-    LIBS += -lmpi -lmpi_cxx
-    INCLUDEPATH += /usr/include/mpi
     ### vtk ###
+    isEmpty(VTK_INCLUDEPATH) {
     INCLUDEPATH += /usr/include/vtk-5.2 \
         /usr/include/vtk-5.4 \
         /usr/include/vtk-5.6 \
         /usr/include/vtk-5.8 \
         /usr/include/vtk-5.10 \
         /usr/include/vtk
+    } else {
+    INCLUDEPATH += $$VTK_INCLUDEPATH
+    }
+    isEmpty(VTK_LIBRARYPATH){
+    } else {
+    LIBS +=-L$$VTK_LIBRARYPATH
+    }
     LIBS += -lvtkCommon \
         -lvtkIO \
         -lvtksys \