diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 79e80dd5b4b3ca6d4abb90ee2d863abdb802f65c..79a650cc6d25afac56d77dfe673c15c0b94e621c 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -467,6 +467,10 @@ case $host in
     else
       is_cygwin=yes
       AC_DEFINE(IS_CYGWIN, 1, [1 if building for Cygwin.])
+      # sys/io.h needed under cygwin for parport access
+      if test $build_parport = yes; then
+        AC_CHECK_HEADERS(sys/io.h,[],AC_MSG_ERROR([Please install the cygwin ioperm package]))
+      fi
     fi
   
     AC_DEFINE(IS_WIN32, 1, [1 if building for Win32.])