diff --git a/CMakeVOL.cmake b/CMakeVOL.cmake
index e0894379f22..d8b8ff0acb0 100644
--- a/CMakeVOL.cmake
+++ b/CMakeVOL.cmake
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ if (HDF5_VOL_ALLOW_EXTERNAL MATCHES "GIT" OR HDF5_VOL_ALLOW_EXTERNAL MATCHES "LO
   set (HDF5_FOUND 1)
   set (HDF5_LIBRARIES "${HDF5_LIBSH_TARGET};${LINK_LIBS};${LINK_COMP_LIBS};$<$<BOOL:${HDF5_ENABLE_PARALLEL}>:MPI::MPI_C>")
   set (HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS "${HDF5_SRC_INCLUDE_DIRS};${HDF5_SRC_BINARY_DIR};$<$<BOOL:${HDF5_ENABLE_PARALLEL}>:${MPI_C_INCLUDE_DIRS}>")
+  set (HDF5_IS_PARALLEL ${H5_HAVE_PARALLEL})
 
   set (HDF5_C_LIBRARIES "${HDF5_LIBRARIES}")