diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index a1f12a354befd..e8e51a345b792 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -389,9 +389,6 @@ setup_split_debug_script()
 add_maintenance_targets()
 add_windows_deploy_target()
 
-get_target_property(definitions core_interface INTERFACE_COMPILE_DEFINITIONS)
-separate_by_configs(definitions)
-
 message("\n")
 message("Configure summary")
 message("=================")
@@ -415,29 +412,8 @@ message("  test_bitcoin ........................ ${BUILD_TESTS}")
 message("  bench_bitcoin ....................... ${BUILD_BENCH}")
 message("  fuzz binary ......................... ${BUILD_FUZZ_BINARY}")
 message("")
-if(CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING)
-  set(cross_status "TRUE, for ${CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME}, ${CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR}")
-else()
-  set(cross_status "FALSE")
-endif()
-message("Cross compiling ....................... ${cross_status}")
-message("Preprocessor defined macros ........... ${definitions_ALL}")
-message("C compiler ............................ ${CMAKE_C_COMPILER}")
-list(JOIN DEPENDS_C_COMPILER_FLAGS " " depends_c_flags)
-string(STRIP "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} ${depends_c_flags}" combined_c_flags)
-message("CFLAGS ................................ ${combined_c_flags}")
-message("C++ compiler .......................... ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}")
-list(JOIN DEPENDS_CXX_COMPILER_FLAGS " " depends_cxx_flags)
-string(STRIP "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${depends_cxx_flags}" combined_cxx_flags)
-message("CXXFLAGS .............................. ${combined_cxx_flags}")
-include(GetTargetInterface)
-get_target_interface(common_compile_options core_interface COMPILE_OPTIONS)
-message("Common compile options ................ ${common_compile_options}")
-get_target_interface(common_link_options core_interface LINK_OPTIONS)
-message("Common link options ................... ${common_link_options}")
-message("Linker flags for executables .......... ${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS}")
-message("Linker flags for shared libraries ..... ${CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS}")
-print_config_flags()
+include(FlagsSummary)
+flags_summary()
 message("Use assembly routines ................. ${ASM}")
 message("Attempt to harden executables ......... ${HARDENING}")
 message("Treat compiler warnings as errors ..... ${WERROR}")
diff --git a/cmake/module/FlagsSummary.cmake b/cmake/module/FlagsSummary.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..f89980f243180
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cmake/module/FlagsSummary.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2024-present The Bitcoin Core developers
+# Distributed under the MIT software license, see the accompanying
+# file COPYING or https://opensource.org/license/mit/.
+
+include_guard(GLOBAL)
+
+function(normalize_preprocessor_definitions definitions)
+  if(MSVC)
+    set(flag "/D")
+  else()
+    set(flag "-D")
+  endif()
+  separate_arguments(${definitions})
+  set(result "")
+  foreach(d IN LISTS ${definitions})
+    if(NOT d)
+      continue()
+    endif()
+    if(NOT d MATCHES "${flag}.*")
+      string(PREPEND d "${flag}")
+    endif()
+    string(STRIP "${result} ${d}" result)
+  endforeach()
+  set(${definitions} "${result}" PARENT_SCOPE)
+endfunction()
+
+function(flags_summary)
+  include(GetTargetInterface)
+  get_target_interface(definitions core_interface COMPILE_DEFINITIONS)
+  include(ProcessConfigurations)
+  separate_by_configs(definitions)
+
+  if(CMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING)
+    set(cross_status "TRUE, for ${CMAKE_SYSTEM_NAME}, ${CMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR}")
+  else()
+    set(cross_status "FALSE")
+  endif()
+  message("Cross compiling ....................... ${cross_status}")
+
+  get_property(is_multi_config GLOBAL PROPERTY GENERATOR_IS_MULTI_CONFIG)
+  if(is_multi_config)
+    list(JOIN CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES ", " configs)
+    message("Available build configurations ........ ${configs}")
+    if(CMAKE_GENERATOR MATCHES "Visual Studio")
+      set(default_config "Debug")
+    else()
+      list(GET CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES 0 default_config)
+    endif()
+    message("Default build configuration ........... ${default_config}")
+    string(TOUPPER "${default_config}" config_uppercase)
+  else()
+    message("Build configuration ................... ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}")
+    string(TOUPPER "${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}" config_uppercase)
+  endif()
+
+  string(STRIP "${definitions_ALL} ${definitions_${config_uppercase}}" combined_cpp_flags)
+  normalize_preprocessor_definitions(combined_cpp_flags)
+  message("Preprocessor defined macros ........... ${combined_cpp_flags}")
+
+  message("C compiler ............................ ${CMAKE_C_COMPILER_ID} ${CMAKE_C_COMPILER_VERSION}, ${CMAKE_C_COMPILER}")
+  string(STRIP "${CMAKE_C_FLAGS} ${CMAKE_C_FLAGS_${config_uppercase}}" combined_c_flags)
+  list(JOIN DEPENDS_C_COMPILER_FLAGS " " depends_c_flags)
+  string(STRIP "${combined_c_flags} ${depends_c_flags}" combined_c_flags)
+  get_target_interface(common_compile_options core_interface COMPILE_OPTIONS)
+  string(STRIP "${combined_c_flags} ${common_compile_options}" combined_c_flags)
+  message("C compiler flags ...................... ${combined_c_flags}")
+
+  message("C++ compiler .......................... ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_ID} ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_VERSION}, ${CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER}")
+  string(STRIP "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_${config_uppercase}}" combined_cxx_flags)
+  list(JOIN DEPENDS_CXX_COMPILER_FLAGS " " depends_cxx_flags)
+  string(STRIP "${combined_cxx_flags} ${depends_cxx_flags}" combined_cxx_flags)
+  string(STRIP "${combined_cxx_flags} ${common_compile_options}" combined_cxx_flags)
+  message("C++ compiler flags .................... ${combined_cxx_flags}")
+
+  get_target_interface(common_link_options core_interface LINK_OPTIONS)
+  string(STRIP "${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS} ${common_link_options}" combined_linker_flags)
+  message("Linker flags .......................... ${combined_linker_flags}")
+endfunction()
diff --git a/cmake/module/GetTargetInterface.cmake b/cmake/module/GetTargetInterface.cmake
index f55354fd61b2a..b4b27c42f76da 100644
--- a/cmake/module/GetTargetInterface.cmake
+++ b/cmake/module/GetTargetInterface.cmake
@@ -8,7 +8,9 @@ include_guard(GLOBAL)
 function(get_target_interface var target property)
   get_target_property(result ${target} INTERFACE_${property})
   if(result)
-    string(GENEX_STRIP "${result}" result)
+    if(NOT ${property} STREQUAL "COMPILE_DEFINITIONS")
+      string(GENEX_STRIP "${result}" result)
+    endif()
     list(JOIN result " " result)
   else()
     set(result)
diff --git a/cmake/module/ProcessConfigurations.cmake b/cmake/module/ProcessConfigurations.cmake
index c8cd0635220d9..67ea857f0b460 100644
--- a/cmake/module/ProcessConfigurations.cmake
+++ b/cmake/module/ProcessConfigurations.cmake
@@ -106,28 +106,3 @@ function(separate_by_configs options)
     set(${options}_${conf_upper} "${match}" PARENT_SCOPE)
   endforeach()
 endfunction()
-
-function(print_config_flags)
-  macro(print_flags config)
-    string(TOUPPER "${config}" config_uppercase)
-    message(" - Preprocessor defined macros ........ ${definitions_${config_uppercase}}")
-    message(" - CFLAGS ............................. ${CMAKE_C_FLAGS_${config_uppercase}}")
-    message(" - CXXFLAGS ........................... ${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS_${config_uppercase}}")
-    message(" - LDFLAGS for executables ............ ${CMAKE_EXE_LINKER_FLAGS_${config_uppercase}}")
-    message(" - LDFLAGS for shared libraries ....... ${CMAKE_SHARED_LINKER_FLAGS_${config_uppercase}}")
-  endmacro()
-
-  get_property(is_multi_config GLOBAL PROPERTY GENERATOR_IS_MULTI_CONFIG)
-  if(is_multi_config)
-    list(JOIN CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES " " configs)
-    message("Available build types (configurations)  ${configs}")
-    foreach(config IN LISTS CMAKE_CONFIGURATION_TYPES)
-      message("'${config}' build type (configuration):")
-      print_flags(${config})
-    endforeach()
-  else()
-    message("Build type (configuration):")
-    message(" - CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE ................... ${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE}")
-    print_flags(${CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE})
-  endif()
-endfunction()
diff --git a/src/CMakeLists.txt b/src/CMakeLists.txt
index a50c0f8439ac5..cf69e5a656764 100644
--- a/src/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -6,7 +6,9 @@ include(GNUInstallDirs)
 include(AddWindowsResources)
 
 configure_file(${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/cmake/bitcoin-config.h.in config/bitcoin-config.h @ONLY)
-add_compile_definitions(HAVE_CONFIG_H)
+target_compile_definitions(core_interface INTERFACE
+  HAVE_CONFIG_H
+)
 include_directories(${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
 
 # After the transition from Autotools to CMake, the obj/ subdirectory