diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 7a69d94dd5551..4bf8b2789ae7b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ option(LLAMA_TOOLS_INSTALL  "llama: install tools"        ${LLAMA_TOOLS_INSTALL_
 
 # 3rd party libs
 option(LLAMA_CURL       "llama: use libcurl to download model from an URL" ON)
-option(LLAMA_OPENSSL    "llama: use openssl to download model from an URL" ON)
+option(LLAMA_OPENSSL    "llama: use openssl to support HTTPS" OFF)
 option(LLAMA_LLGUIDANCE "llama-common: include LLGuidance library for structured output in common utils" OFF)
 
 # Required for relocatable CMake package
diff --git a/common/CMakeLists.txt b/common/CMakeLists.txt
index 0cf104833c7f1..8ab3d445104a7 100644
--- a/common/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/common/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -87,11 +87,13 @@ if (LLAMA_CURL)
     target_compile_definitions(${TARGET} PUBLIC LLAMA_USE_CURL)
     include_directories(${CURL_INCLUDE_DIRS})
     set(LLAMA_COMMON_EXTRA_LIBS ${LLAMA_COMMON_EXTRA_LIBS} ${CURL_LIBRARIES})
+endif()
 
-elseif (LLAMA_OPENSSL)
+if (LLAMA_OPENSSL)
     find_package(OpenSSL)
     if (OpenSSL_FOUND)
         include(CheckCSourceCompiles)
+        set(SAVED_CMAKE_REQUIRED_INCLUDES ${CMAKE_REQUIRED_INCLUDES})
         set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_INCLUDES ${OPENSSL_INCLUDE_DIR})
         check_c_source_compiles("
         #include <openssl/opensslv.h>
@@ -106,6 +108,7 @@ elseif (LLAMA_OPENSSL)
         #endif
         int main() { return 0; }
         " OPENSSL_VERSION_SUPPORTED)
+        set(CMAKE_REQUIRED_INCLUDES ${SAVED_CMAKE_REQUIRED_INCLUDES})
         if (OPENSSL_VERSION_SUPPORTED)
             message(STATUS "OpenSSL found: ${OPENSSL_VERSION}")
             target_compile_definitions(${TARGET} PUBLIC CPPHTTPLIB_OPENSSL_SUPPORT)
diff --git a/tools/server/CMakeLists.txt b/tools/server/CMakeLists.txt
index 83b608c32a9c7..06df3ee49dd33 100644
--- a/tools/server/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tools/server/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 set(TARGET llama-server)
 
-option(LLAMA_SERVER_SSL "Build SSL support for the server" OFF)
-
 include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR})
 
 if (MINGW)
@@ -37,12 +35,6 @@ target_include_directories(${TARGET} PRIVATE ../mtmd)
 target_include_directories(${TARGET} PRIVATE ${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR})
 target_link_libraries(${TARGET} PRIVATE common mtmd ${CMAKE_THREAD_LIBS_INIT})
 
-if (LLAMA_SERVER_SSL)
-    find_package(OpenSSL REQUIRED)
-    target_link_libraries(${TARGET} PRIVATE OpenSSL::SSL OpenSSL::Crypto)
-    target_compile_definitions(${TARGET} PRIVATE CPPHTTPLIB_OPENSSL_SUPPORT)
-endif()
-
 if (WIN32)
     TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(${TARGET} PRIVATE ws2_32)
 endif()
diff --git a/tools/server/README.md b/tools/server/README.md
index 73b4cc6f03a28..ecf3b9cd724db 100644
--- a/tools/server/README.md
+++ b/tools/server/README.md
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ For more details, please refer to [multimodal documentation](../../docs/multimod
 - Using `CMake`:
 
   ```bash
-  cmake -B build -DLLAMA_SERVER_SSL=ON
+  cmake -B build -DLLAMA_OPENSSL=ON
   cmake --build build --config Release -t llama-server
   ```