diff --git a/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-network.import.props b/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-network.import.props
index 81b0d3dc..2f5c4fee 100644
--- a/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-network.import.props
+++ b/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-network.import.props
@@ -11,15 +11,29 @@
     <PropertyPageSchema Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)libbitcoin-network.import.xml" />
   </ItemGroup>
 
+  <!-- Options -->
+
+  <PropertyGroup>
+    <Option-ssl>true</Option-ssl>
+  </PropertyGroup>
+
+  <!-- Messages -->
+
+  <Target Name="OptionInfo" BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild">
+    <Message Text="Option-ssl        : $(Option-ssl)" Importance="high"/>
+  </Target>
+
   <!-- Linkage -->
 
   <ItemDefinitionGroup>
     <ClCompile>
       <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>$(ProjectDir)..\..\..\..\..\libbitcoin-network\include\;%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
-      <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>$(ProjectDir)..\..\..\..\..\libbitcoin-network\include\bitcoin\ssl\;%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
+
+      <!-- Prevent boost from seeing ssl includes when ssl is deselected  (requires external headers). -->
+      <AdditionalIncludeDirectories Condition="'$(Option-ssl)' == 'true'">$(ProjectDir)..\..\..\..\..\libbitcoin-network\include\bitcoin\ssl\;%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
       <AdditionalOptions>/bigobj %(AdditionalOptions)</AdditionalOptions>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(Linkage-libbitcoin-network)' == 'static' Or '$(Linkage-libbitcoin-network)' == 'ltcg'">BCT_STATIC;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
-      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WOLFSSL_USER_SETTINGS;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
+      <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(Option-ssl)' == 'true'">WOLFSSL_USER_SETTINGS;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
     </ClCompile>
     <Link>
       <AdditionalDependencies Condition="'$(Linkage-libbitcoin-network)' != ''">libbitcoin-network.lib;%(AdditionalDependencies)</AdditionalDependencies>
@@ -35,4 +49,14 @@
       </AdditionalLibraryDirectories>
     </Link>
   </ItemDefinitionGroup>
+
+  <Target Name="WolfSSLSuppressions" BeforeTargets="ClCompile">
+    <ItemGroup>
+      <ClCompile Update="@(ClCompile)">
+        <!-- Exclude wolfssl test sources when ssl is deselected (requires external linkage). -->
+        <ExcludedFromBuild Condition="$([System.String]::new('%(RelativeDir)').StartsWith('..\..\..\..\test\ssl\')) And '$(Option-ssl)' == 'false'">true</ExcludedFromBuild>
+      </ClCompile>
+    </ItemGroup>
+  </Target>
+  
 </Project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-network.import.xml b/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-network.import.xml
index 7bcfea23..f7ff53dd 100644
--- a/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-network.import.xml
+++ b/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-network.import.xml
@@ -14,4 +14,16 @@
       <EnumValue Name="ltcg" DisplayName="Static using link time compile generation (LTCG)" />
     </EnumProperty>
   </Rule>
+  <Rule Name="libbitcoin-network-options-uiextension" PageTemplate="tool" DisplayName="Bitcoin Network Options" SwitchPrefix="/" Order="1">
+    <Rule.Categories>
+      <Category Name="ssl" DisplayName="ssl" />
+    </Rule.Categories>
+    <Rule.DataSource>
+      <DataSource Persistence="ProjectFile" ItemType="" />
+    </Rule.DataSource>
+    <EnumProperty Name="Option-ssl" DisplayName="Enable Embedded SSL" Description="Requires external SSL if not enabled." Category="ssl">
+      <EnumValue Name="false" DisplayName="No" />
+      <EnumValue Name="true" DisplayName="Yes" />
+    </EnumProperty>
+  </Rule>
 </ProjectSchemaDefinitions>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-system.import.props b/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-system.import.props
index 59ce698b..6d9a890f 100644
--- a/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-system.import.props
+++ b/builds/msvc/vs2022/libbitcoin-system.import.props
@@ -46,12 +46,9 @@
   <ItemDefinitionGroup>
     <ClCompile>
       <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>$(ProjectDir)..\..\..\..\..\libbitcoin-system\include\;%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
-      <!-- WITH_ICU always defined in Visual Studio builds. -->
       <!-- NOMINMAX enables use of std::min/max without conflict. -->
       <!-- WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN avoids inclusion of certain headers, winsock.h conflicts with boost and protocol use of winsock2.h. -->
-      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WITH_ICU;WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN;NOMINMAX;_WIN32_WINNT=0x0602;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
-      <!-- Disable auto-linking for all boost-json and its dependency boost-container so they can be header only. -->
-      <PreprocessorDefinitions>BOOST_JSON_NO_LIB;BOOST_CONTAINER_NO_LIB;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
+      <PreprocessorDefinitions>WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN;NOMINMAX;_WIN32_WINNT=0x0602;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(Linkage-libbitcoin-system)' == 'static' Or '$(Linkage-libbitcoin-system)' == 'ltcg'">BC_STATIC;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="$(Configuration.IndexOf('Debug')) != -1">_CRTDBG_MAP_ALLOC;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <!-- Enable use of CPU intrinsics. -->