diff --git a/cmake/Modules/Packages/H5MD.cmake b/cmake/Modules/Packages/H5MD.cmake
index 4fcae93027..6f6922f13e 100644
--- a/cmake/Modules/Packages/H5MD.cmake
+++ b/cmake/Modules/Packages/H5MD.cmake
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 enable_language(C)
 
+# we don't use the parallel i/o interface.
+set(HDF5_PREFER_PARALLEL FALSE)
+
 find_package(HDF5 REQUIRED)
+
+# parallel HDF5 will import incompatible MPI headers with a serial build
+if((NOT BUILD_MPI) AND HDF5_IS_PARALLEL)
+  message(FATAL_ERROR "Serial LAMMPS build and parallel HDF5 library are not compatible")
+endif()
+
 target_link_libraries(h5md PRIVATE ${HDF5_LIBRARIES})
 target_include_directories(h5md PUBLIC ${HDF5_INCLUDE_DIRS})