diff --git a/core/config.h b/core/config.h
index ed8af92f..ef322647 100644
--- a/core/config.h
+++ b/core/config.h
@@ -231,6 +231,17 @@
 #define WASM_ENABLE_LOG 1
 #endif
 
+/* When this flag is set, WAMR will not automatically
+ * initialize sockets on Windows platforms. The host
+ * application is responsible for calling WSAStartup()
+ * before executing WAMR code that uses sockets, and
+ * calling WSACleanup() after.
+ * This flag passes control of socket initialization from
+ * WAMR to the host application. */
+#ifndef WASM_ENABLE_HOST_SOCKET_INIT
+#define WASM_ENABLE_HOST_SOCKET_INIT 0
+#endif
+
 #ifndef WASM_CPU_SUPPORTS_UNALIGNED_ADDR_ACCESS
 #if defined(BUILD_TARGET_X86_32) || defined(BUILD_TARGET_X86_64) \
     || defined(BUILD_TARGET_AARCH64)
diff --git a/core/shared/platform/windows/win_socket.c b/core/shared/platform/windows/win_socket.c
index 91d38fd8..b19e5b09 100644
--- a/core/shared/platform/windows/win_socket.c
+++ b/core/shared/platform/windows/win_socket.c
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ static bool is_winsock_inited = false;
 int
 init_winsock()
 {
+#if WASM_ENABLE_HOST_SOCKET_INIT == 0
     WSADATA wsaData;
 
     if (!is_winsock_inited) {
@@ -42,6 +43,7 @@ init_winsock()
 
         is_winsock_inited = true;
     }
+#endif
 
     return BHT_OK;
 }
@@ -49,9 +51,11 @@ init_winsock()
 void
 deinit_winsock()
 {
+#if WASM_ENABLE_HOST_SOCKET_INIT == 0
     if (is_winsock_inited) {
         WSACleanup();
     }
+#endif
 }
 
 int