diff --git a/.ci/dependencies_macports.txt b/.ci/dependencies_macports.txt
index e78d4a6da..5ec71d07c 100644
--- a/.ci/dependencies_macports.txt
+++ b/.ci/dependencies_macports.txt
@@ -13,4 +13,5 @@ qt5
 wget
 fluidsynth
 ghostscript
+libslirp
 vde2
diff --git a/.ci/dependencies_msys.txt b/.ci/dependencies_msys.txt
index df4932352..1b9ccdcc8 100644
--- a/.ci/dependencies_msys.txt
+++ b/.ci/dependencies_msys.txt
@@ -8,5 +8,6 @@ SDL2
 zlib
 libpng
 rtmidi
+libslirp
 qt5-static
 qt5-translations
diff --git a/src/network/CMakeLists.txt b/src/network/CMakeLists.txt
index 54ec1edce..9f6d49a17 100644
--- a/src/network/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/network/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ set(net_sources)
 list(APPEND net_sources network.c net_pcap.c net_slirp.c net_dp8390.c net_3c501.c
     net_3c503.c net_ne2000.c net_pcnet.c net_wd8003.c net_plip.c net_event.c net_null.c)
 
-option(SLIRP_EXTERNAL "Link against the system-provided libslirp library" OFF)
+option(SLIRP_EXTERNAL "Link against the system-provided libslirp library" ON)
 mark_as_advanced(SLIRP_EXTERNAL)
 
 if(SLIRP_EXTERNAL)