diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index de5b69ca..9acad117 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -287,6 +287,13 @@ if(APPLE OR WIN32)
 else()
   set(AL_PC_VERSION_SYMBOL_FLAG " -Wl,--defsym,AL_VER_${PROJECT_VERSION}=0")
 endif()
+# Windows has no runtime search path: DLLs are found through PATH, and MSVC's
+# link.exe rejects -rpath
+if(WIN32)
+  set(AL_PC_RPATH_FLAG "")
+else()
+  set(AL_PC_RPATH_FLAG " -Wl,-rpath,\${libdir}")
+endif()
 configure_file(pkgconfig/al-core.pc.in al-core.pc @ONLY)
 include(GNUInstallDirs)
 install(
diff --git a/cmake/al-coreConfig.cmake.in b/cmake/al-coreConfig.cmake.in
index 4d8b30ed..3789cbe1 100644
--- a/cmake/al-coreConfig.cmake.in
+++ b/cmake/al-coreConfig.cmake.in
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 @PACKAGE_INIT@
 
-include(CMakeFindDependencyMacro)
-find_dependency(Boost COMPONENTS filesystem)
+# No find_dependency() calls: libal is always a shared library and links its
+# dependencies (Boost, HDF5, ...) privately, so consumers don't need them.
+# Requiring them would fail where only their runtime libraries are installed
+# (e.g. conda environments without libboost-devel).
 
 include("${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/al-coreTargets.cmake")
 
diff --git a/pkgconfig/al-core.pc.in b/pkgconfig/al-core.pc.in
index 5a90d4a7..4a1990fb 100644
--- a/pkgconfig/al-core.pc.in
+++ b/pkgconfig/al-core.pc.in
@@ -8,4 +8,4 @@ Version: @PROJECT_VERSION@
 Description: IMAS Access Layer core libraries for C.
 URL: https://imas.iter.org
 Cflags: -I${includedir}
-Libs: -L${libdir} -lal@AL_PC_VERSION_SYMBOL_FLAG@ -Wl,-rpath,${libdir}
+Libs: -L${libdir} -lal@AL_PC_VERSION_SYMBOL_FLAG@@AL_PC_RPATH_FLAG@