diff --git a/cmake/SetupBOUTThirdParty.cmake b/cmake/SetupBOUTThirdParty.cmake
index 656835f30a..b7c222eb72 100644
--- a/cmake/SetupBOUTThirdParty.cmake
+++ b/cmake/SetupBOUTThirdParty.cmake
@@ -193,6 +193,9 @@ set(BOUT_HAS_NETCDF ${BOUT_USE_NETCDF})
 option(BOUT_USE_ADIOS2 "Enable support for ADIOS output" OFF)
 option(BOUT_DOWNLOAD_ADIOS2 "Download and build ADIOS2" OFF)
 if (BOUT_USE_ADIOS2)
+  enable_language(C)
+  find_package(MPI REQUIRED COMPONENTS C)
+
   if (BOUT_DOWNLOAD_ADIOS2)
     message(STATUS "Downloading and configuring ADIOS2")
     include(FetchContent)
@@ -211,14 +214,11 @@ if (BOUT_USE_ADIOS2)
     # Note: SST requires <rdma/fabric.h> but doesn't check at configure time
     set(ADIOS2_USE_SST OFF CACHE BOOL "" FORCE)
     FetchContent_MakeAvailable(adios2)
-    target_link_libraries(bout++ PUBLIC adios2::cxx11_mpi)
     message(STATUS "ADIOS2 done configuring")
   else()
     find_package(ADIOS2 REQUIRED)
-    enable_language(C)
-    find_package(MPI REQUIRED COMPONENTS C)
-    target_link_libraries(bout++ PUBLIC adios2::cxx11_mpi MPI::MPI_C)
   endif()
+  target_link_libraries(bout++ PUBLIC adios2::cxx11_mpi MPI::MPI_C)
 endif()
 message(STATUS "ADIOS2 support: ${BOUT_USE_ADIOS2}")
 set(BOUT_HAS_ADIOS2 ${BOUT_USE_ADIOS2})