diff --git a/Installation/include/CGAL/mutex.h b/Installation/include/CGAL/mutex.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..0dbcdfed9f6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Installation/include/CGAL/mutex.h
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+#ifndef CGAL_MUTEX_H
+#define CGAL_MUTEX_H
+
+#include <CGAL/config.h>
+
+#ifdef BOOST_MSVC
+#include <mutex>
+#define CGAL_MUTEX std::mutex
+#define CGAL_SCOPED_LOCK(M) std::unique_lock<std::mutex> scoped_lock(M)
+
+#else
+#include <boost/thread/mutex.hpp>
+#define CGAL_MUTEX boost::mutex
+#define CGAL_SCOPED_LOCK(M) boost::mutex::scoped_lock scoped_lock(M)
+
+#endif
+
+#endif // CGAL_MUTEX_H