diff --git a/src/sniffles/sniffles b/src/sniffles/sniffles
index 9a1fa90..9a8d7d0 100755
--- a/src/sniffles/sniffles
+++ b/src/sniffles/sniffles
@@ -72,7 +72,9 @@ def Sniffles2_Main(processes: list[parallel.SnifflesWorker]):
     input_ext = [f.split(".")[-1].lower() for f in config.input]
 
     # needed for running on osx
-    multiprocessing.set_start_method("fork")
+    if sys.platform == "darwin":
+        multiprocessing.set_start_method("fork")
+
     if len(set(input_ext)) > 1:
         util.fatal_error_main(f"Please specify either: A single .bam/.cram file - OR - one or more .snf files - OR - a single .tsv file containing a list of .snf files and optional sample ids as input. (supplied were: {list(set(input_ext))})")