diff --git a/include/osgViewer/ViewerBase b/include/osgViewer/ViewerBase
index 66418f653..c13b0cb65 100644
--- a/include/osgViewer/ViewerBase
+++ b/include/osgViewer/ViewerBase
@@ -60,6 +60,12 @@ class OSGVIEWER_EXPORT ViewerBase : public virtual osg::Object
         virtual void realize() = 0;
 
 
+        /** Set whether the setUpThreading() method should call configureAffinity() to set up up the processor affinity of viewer threads.*/
+        void setUseConfigureAffinity(bool flag) { _useConfigureAffinity = flag; }
+
+        /** get whether the setUpThreading() method should call configureAffinity() to set up up the processor affinity of viewer threads.*/
+        bool getUseConfigureAffinity() const { return _useConfigureAffinity; }
+
         /** analyse the viewer configuration and select an appropriate Affinity for main thread, and any graphics, camera threads and database pagers that are required.*/
         virtual void configureAffinity();
 
@@ -327,6 +333,7 @@ protected:
         bool                                                _quitEventSetsDone;
         bool                                                _releaseContextAtEndOfFrameHint;
 
+        bool                                                _useConfigureAffinity;
         OpenThreads::Affinity                               _affinity;
         ThreadingModel                                      _threadingModel;
         bool                                                _threadsRunning;
diff --git a/src/osgViewer/ViewerBase.cpp b/src/osgViewer/ViewerBase.cpp
index c3c1eb541..467d7e0d4 100644
--- a/src/osgViewer/ViewerBase.cpp
+++ b/src/osgViewer/ViewerBase.cpp
@@ -80,6 +80,8 @@ void ViewerBase::viewerBaseInit()
     {
         _runMaxFrameRate = osg::asciiToDouble(str);
     }
+
+    _useConfigureAffinity = true;
 }
 
 void ViewerBase::configureAffinity()
@@ -235,8 +237,8 @@ void ViewerBase::setUpThreading()
         _threadingModel = suggestBestThreadingModel();
     }
 
-    // configure affinity before we start threads
-    configureAffinity();
+    // if required configure affinity before we start threads
+    if (_useConfigureAffinity) configureAffinity();
 
     Contexts contexts;
     getContexts(contexts);