diff --git a/pkgs/desktops/cdesktopenv/default.nix b/pkgs/desktops/cdesktopenv/default.nix
index 7715f4f232ad..71b661f1265b 100644
--- a/pkgs/desktops/cdesktopenv/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/desktops/cdesktopenv/default.nix
@@ -46,6 +46,8 @@ in stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
     bison ncompress gawk autoPatchelfHook makeWrapper fakeroot
     rpcsvc-proto
   ];
+  # build fails otherwise
+  enableParallelBuilding = false;
 
   makeFlags = [
     "World"