diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index e4caa59cb..56850b223 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -5106,6 +5106,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing",
  "url",
  "walkdir",
+ "winreg",
  "zip",
  "zstd",
 ]
@@ -8749,6 +8750,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "memchr",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "winreg"
+version = "0.56.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7d6f32a0ff4a9f6f01231eb2059cc85479330739333e0e58cadf03b6af2cca10"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "winver"
 version = "1.0.0"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 9e14e7220..4aad8a7a0 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -90,6 +90,7 @@ urlencoding = "2.1"
 walkdir = "2.5.0"
 which = "8.0.2"
 windows-sys = "0.61"
+winreg = "0.56"
 zip = { version = "8.5.1", default-features = false, features = ["deflate"] }
 zstd = "0.13.3"
 spdx = "0.13.4"
diff --git a/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/Cargo.toml b/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/Cargo.toml
index 91ed5e44e..8314854e6 100644
--- a/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/Cargo.toml
+++ b/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/Cargo.toml
@@ -63,6 +63,9 @@ sigstore-verify = { version = "0.6.4", default-features = false, optional = true
 sigstore-trust-root = { version = "0.6.4", default-features = false, optional = true }
 sigstore-types = { version = "0.6.4", optional = true }
 
+[target.'cfg(target_os = "windows")'.dependencies]
+winreg = { workspace = true }
+
 [dev-dependencies]
 tokio = { workspace = true, features = ["rt", "macros", "test-util"] }
 tempfile.workspace = true
diff --git a/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/src/cache.rs b/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/src/cache.rs
index 6802e3b6e..751c36338 100644
--- a/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/src/cache.rs
+++ b/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/src/cache.rs
@@ -711,7 +711,41 @@ pub fn is_tarball(file_name: &str) -> bool {
     .any(|ext| file_name.ends_with(ext))
 }
 
-fn extract_tar(archive: &Path, target: &Path) -> Result<(), CacheError> {
+/// On Windows, checks whether Developer Mode is enabled by reading the registry key
+/// `HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModelUnlock` value
+/// `AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense`.
+/// Returns `false` if the key is missing, inaccessible, or the value is not `1`.
+#[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+fn is_windows_developer_mode_enabled() -> bool {
+    use winreg::RegKey;
+    use winreg::enums::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE;
+
+    (|| -> Result<bool, std::io::Error> {
+        let value: u32 = RegKey::predef(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE)
+            .open_subkey(r"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\AppModelUnlock")?
+            .get_value("AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense")?;
+        Ok(value == 1)
+    })()
+    .unwrap_or(false)
+}
+
+/// Wraps a tar unpack error, appending a Windows Developer Mode hint when on Windows and
+/// Developer Mode is detected as disabled.
+fn tar_unpack_error(context: &str, e: std::io::Error) -> CacheError {
+    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+    if !is_windows_developer_mode_enabled() {
+        return CacheError::ExtractionError(format!(
+            "{context}: {e}\n\n\
+            hint: Extracting this archive failed on Windows. The archive may contain symbolic \
+            links, which require Developer Mode or administrator privileges to create. \
+            Please enable Developer Mode in: \
+            Developer settings > Developer Mode, then retry the build."
+        ));
+    }
+    CacheError::ExtractionError(format!("{context}: {e}"))
+}
+
+pub(crate) fn extract_tar(archive: &Path, target: &Path) -> Result<(), CacheError> {
     let file = fs_err::File::open(archive)
         .map_err(|e| CacheError::ExtractionError(format!("Failed to open archive: {}", e)))?;
 
@@ -721,30 +755,30 @@ fn extract_tar(archive: &Path, target: &Path) -> Result<(), CacheError> {
         let mut archive = tar::Archive::new(GzDecoder::new(file));
         archive
             .unpack(target)
-            .map_err(|e| CacheError::ExtractionError(format!("Failed to extract tar.gz: {}", e)))?;
+            .map_err(|e| tar_unpack_error("Failed to extract tar.gz", e))?;
     } else if name.ends_with(".tar.bz2") || name.ends_with(".tbz2") {
         let mut archive = tar::Archive::new(bzip2::read::BzDecoder::new(file));
-        archive.unpack(target).map_err(|e| {
-            CacheError::ExtractionError(format!("Failed to extract tar.bz2: {}", e))
-        })?;
+        archive
+            .unpack(target)
+            .map_err(|e| tar_unpack_error("Failed to extract tar.bz2", e))?;
     } else if name.ends_with(".tar.xz") || name.ends_with(".txz") {
         let mut archive = tar::Archive::new(lzma_rust2::XzReader::new(file, true));
         archive
             .unpack(target)
-            .map_err(|e| CacheError::ExtractionError(format!("Failed to extract tar.xz: {}", e)))?;
+            .map_err(|e| tar_unpack_error("Failed to extract tar.xz", e))?;
     } else if name.ends_with(".tar.zst") {
         let decoder = zstd::stream::read::Decoder::new(file).map_err(|e| {
             CacheError::ExtractionError(format!("Failed to create zstd decoder: {}", e))
         })?;
         let mut archive = tar::Archive::new(decoder);
-        archive.unpack(target).map_err(|e| {
-            CacheError::ExtractionError(format!("Failed to extract tar.zst: {}", e))
-        })?;
+        archive
+            .unpack(target)
+            .map_err(|e| tar_unpack_error("Failed to extract tar.zst", e))?;
     } else {
         let mut archive = tar::Archive::new(file);
         archive
             .unpack(target)
-            .map_err(|e| CacheError::ExtractionError(format!("Failed to extract tar: {}", e)))?;
+            .map_err(|e| tar_unpack_error("Failed to extract tar", e))?;
     }
 
     Ok(())
diff --git a/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/src/tests.rs b/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/src/tests.rs
index c318a345c..2c0478814 100644
--- a/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/src/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/rattler_build_source_cache/src/tests.rs
@@ -344,6 +344,55 @@ mod source_cache_tests {
         );
     }
 
+    /// Creates a minimal `.tar.gz` at `dest` containing a single symlink entry.
+    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+    fn make_tar_gz_with_symlink(dest: &std::path::Path) {
+        use flate2::{Compression, write::GzEncoder};
+
+        let file = fs_err::File::create(dest).unwrap();
+        let enc = GzEncoder::new(file, Compression::default());
+        let mut builder = tar::Builder::new(enc);
+
+        let mut header = tar::Header::new_gnu();
+        header.set_entry_type(tar::EntryType::Symlink);
+        header.set_size(0);
+        header.set_mode(0o777);
+        header.set_cksum();
+        builder
+            .append_link(&mut header, "link_target", "real_file")
+            .unwrap();
+        builder.finish().unwrap();
+    }
+
+    /// On Windows without Developer Mode the extraction of a symlink-containing
+    /// archive should fail with a hint about enabling Developer Mode.
+    /// On Windows with Developer Mode enabled the extraction succeeds.
+    #[test]
+    #[cfg(target_os = "windows")]
+    fn test_symlink_extraction_error_message() {
+        use crate::cache::extract_tar;
+
+        let dir = TempDir::new().unwrap();
+        let archive = dir.path().join("test.tar.gz");
+        make_tar_gz_with_symlink(&archive);
+
+        let target = dir.path().join("out");
+        fs_err::create_dir_all(&target).unwrap();
+
+        match extract_tar(&archive, &target) {
+            Ok(()) => {
+                // Symlinks extracted fine — Developer Mode is on (or not Windows)
+            }
+            Err(CacheError::ExtractionError(msg)) => {
+                assert!(
+                    msg.contains("Developer Mode"),
+                    "Expected Developer Mode hint in error message, got: {msg}"
+                );
+            }
+            Err(e) => panic!("Unexpected error variant: {e}"),
+        }
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn test_extract_filename_from_header_strips_path_components() {
         use crate::cache::extract_filename_from_header;
diff --git a/py-rattler-build/rust/Cargo.lock b/py-rattler-build/rust/Cargo.lock
index bc4b04d19..36be17c7c 100644
--- a/py-rattler-build/rust/Cargo.lock
+++ b/py-rattler-build/rust/Cargo.lock
@@ -4954,6 +4954,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "tracing",
  "url",
  "walkdir",
+ "winreg",
  "zip",
  "zstd",
 ]
@@ -8456,6 +8457,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "memchr",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "winreg"
+version = "0.56.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "7d6f32a0ff4a9f6f01231eb2059cc85479330739333e0e58cadf03b6af2cca10"
+dependencies = [
+ "cfg-if",
+ "windows-sys 0.61.2",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "winver"
 version = "1.0.0"