diff --git a/TUNING.md b/TUNING.md
index 081846d9ea9..e5e7e9d070a 100644
--- a/TUNING.md
+++ b/TUNING.md
@@ -28,9 +28,15 @@ Boost.Container (https://www.boost.org/doc/libs/release/libs/container) is being
 
 As the used library is header-only implementation you only need to install the package on the system you build the binary on but not on the system you run the analysis on.
 
-The official Windows binary is currently not using this (TODO: file ticket).
+The official Windows binary is currently not using this - see https://trac.cppcheck.net/ticket/13823 for details.
 
-(TODO: enable usage by default / bail out when it is enforced)
+This will be used by default if Boost is detected in CMake. If you want to enforce the usage, you can use the CMake option `-DUSE_BOOST=On` which will cause the build to fail if no Boost was detected.
+
+Using Visual Studio you need to provide a full Boost release (i.e. including binaries) for it to be detected by CMake. If you are not able to do this you can specify the CMake option `-DBOOST_INCLUDEDIR=<in>` (pointing to the directory which *contains* the `boost` include directory) to work around this (this is a Cppcheck specific hack) - see https://trac.cppcheck.net/ticket/13822 for more details.
+
+If you are using `make` instead you need to specify `-DHAVE_BOOST` in the flags.
+
+(TODO: document how to use with provided Visual Studio project)
 
 ### Use A Different Compiler
 
diff --git a/cmake/findDependencies.cmake b/cmake/findDependencies.cmake
index bda9d5f953d..fb59a289aac 100644
--- a/cmake/findDependencies.cmake
+++ b/cmake/findDependencies.cmake
@@ -84,7 +84,21 @@ if(CMAKE_VERSION VERSION_GREATER_EQUAL "3.30")
 endif()
 
 if(USE_BOOST)
-    if(USE_BOOST STREQUAL "Auto")
+    # with Visual Studio Boost is not detected by CMake unless you provide a full release even if only used header-only.
+    # to work around this we allow to externally set BOOST_INCLUDEDIR.
+    # see https://trac.cppcheck.net/ticket/13822 for more details.
+    if(BOOST_INCLUDEDIR)
+        if(NOT MSVC)
+            message(FATAL_ERROR "BOOST_INCLUDEDIR hack only allowed for Visual Studio")
+        endif()
+        message(STATUS "Using BOOST_INCLUDEDIR hack for Visual Studio")
+        if(NOT IS_READABLE "${BOOST_INCLUDEDIR}/boost/container/small_vector.hpp")
+            message(FATAL_ERROR "Provided BOOST_INCLUDEDIR does not appear to contain Boost includes")
+        endif()
+        set(Boost_FOUND ON)
+        set(Boost_INCLUDE_DIRS "${BOOST_INCLUDEDIR}")
+        # TODO: set Boost_VERSION_STRING
+    elseif(USE_BOOST STREQUAL "Auto")
         find_package(Boost)
     else()
         find_package(Boost REQUIRED)