diff --git a/launchers/darwin/CMakeLists.txt b/launchers/darwin/CMakeLists.txt
index 499fc0440e..745ceec8fc 100644
--- a/launchers/darwin/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/launchers/darwin/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -53,9 +53,20 @@ set_target_properties(${this_target} PROPERTIES
 
 set(MACOSX_BUNDLE_ICON_FILE "interface.icns")
 
+function(set_from_env _RESULT_NAME _ENV_VAR_NAME _DEFAULT_VALUE)
+    if (NOT DEFINED ${_RESULT_NAME}) 
+        if ("$ENV{${_ENV_VAR_NAME}}" STREQUAL "")
+            set (${_RESULT_NAME} ${_DEFAULT_VALUE} PARENT_SCOPE)
+        else()
+            set (${_RESULT_NAME} $ENV{${_ENV_VAR_NAME}} PARENT_SCOPE)
+        endif()
+    endif()
+endfunction()
+
 add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME} MACOSX_BUNDLE ${src_files})
 set_target_properties(${PROJECT_NAME} PROPERTIES OUTPUT_NAME ${APP_NAME})
-
+set_from_env(LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET "")
+target_compile_definitions(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET="${LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET}")
 
 
 file(GLOB NIB_FILES "nib/*.xib")
diff --git a/launchers/darwin/src/OrganizationRequest.m b/launchers/darwin/src/OrganizationRequest.m
index b51de8a19e..23d3c2e1cf 100644
--- a/launchers/darwin/src/OrganizationRequest.m
+++ b/launchers/darwin/src/OrganizationRequest.m
@@ -6,15 +6,12 @@
 
 static NSString* const organizationURL = @"https://s3.amazonaws.com/hifi-public/huffman/organizations/";
 
-#define str(s) #s
-#define LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET_STRING str(LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET)
-
 @implementation OrganizationRequest
 
 - (void) confirmOrganization:(NSString*)aOrganization :(NSString*)aUsername {
     self.username = aUsername;
     
-    const char *cKey  = LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET_STRING;
+    const char *cKey  = LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET;
     const char *cData = [aOrganization cStringUsingEncoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding];
     unsigned char cHMAC[CC_SHA256_DIGEST_LENGTH];
     CCHmac(kCCHmacAlgSHA256, cKey, strlen(cKey), cData, strlen(cData), cHMAC);
diff --git a/launchers/win32/CMakeLists.txt b/launchers/win32/CMakeLists.txt
index 4d2618c9bf..8417831312 100644
--- a/launchers/win32/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/launchers/win32/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -39,7 +39,19 @@ add_executable(HQLauncher
   targetver.h
 )
 
-target_compile_definitions(HQLauncher PRIVATE LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET=$ENV{LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET})
+function(set_from_env _RESULT_NAME _ENV_VAR_NAME _DEFAULT_VALUE)
+    if (NOT DEFINED ${_RESULT_NAME}) 
+        if ("$ENV{${_ENV_VAR_NAME}}" STREQUAL "")
+            set (${_RESULT_NAME} ${_DEFAULT_VALUE} PARENT_SCOPE)
+        else()
+            set (${_RESULT_NAME} $ENV{${_ENV_VAR_NAME}} PARENT_SCOPE)
+        endif()
+    endif()
+endfunction()
+
+set_from_env(LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET "")
+target_compile_definitions(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET="${LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET}")
+
 
 # Preprocessor definitions
 target_compile_definitions(HQLauncher PRIVATE
diff --git a/launchers/win32/LauncherDlg.cpp b/launchers/win32/LauncherDlg.cpp
index f6acbce014..07fb57ddcd 100644
--- a/launchers/win32/LauncherDlg.cpp
+++ b/launchers/win32/LauncherDlg.cpp
@@ -170,12 +170,9 @@ void CLauncherDlg::startProcess() {
 	}
 }
 
-#define str(s) #s
-#define LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET_STRING str(LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET)
-
 BOOL CLauncherDlg::getHQInfo(const CString& orgname) {
 	CString hash;
-    LauncherUtils::hMac256(orgname, LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET_STRING, hash);
+    LauncherUtils::hMac256(orgname, LAUNCHER_HMAC_SECRET, hash);
 	return theApp._manager.readOrganizationJSON(hash) == LauncherUtils::ResponseError::NoError;
 }