diff --git a/CMakeExternals/ITK.cmake b/CMakeExternals/ITK.cmake
index cff78a2478..9389663998 100644
--- a/CMakeExternals/ITK.cmake
+++ b/CMakeExternals/ITK.cmake
@@ -1,90 +1,82 @@
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # ITK
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 # Sanity checks
 if(DEFINED ITK_DIR AND NOT EXISTS ${ITK_DIR})
   message(FATAL_ERROR "ITK_DIR variable is defined but corresponds to non-existing directory")
 endif()
 
 set(proj ITK)
 set(proj_DEPENDENCIES GDCM)
 
 if(MITK_USE_OpenCV)
   list(APPEND proj_DEPENDENCIES OpenCV)
 endif()
 
 if(MITK_USE_HDF5)
   list(APPEND proj_DEPENDENCIES HDF5)
 endif()
 
 set(ITK_DEPENDS ${proj})
 
 if(NOT DEFINED ITK_DIR)
 
   set(additional_cmake_args )
   if(MINGW)
     set(additional_cmake_args
         -DCMAKE_USE_WIN32_THREADS:BOOL=ON
         -DCMAKE_USE_PTHREADS:BOOL=OFF)
   endif()
 
   list(APPEND additional_cmake_args
        -DUSE_WRAP_ITK:BOOL=OFF
       )
 
   if(MITK_USE_OpenCV)
     list(APPEND additional_cmake_args
          -DModule_ITKVideoBridgeOpenCV:BOOL=ON
          -DOpenCV_DIR:PATH=${OpenCV_DIR}
         )
   endif()
 
   # Keep the behaviour of ITK 4.3 which by default turned on ITK Review
   # see MITK bug #17338
   list(APPEND additional_cmake_args
     -DModule_ITKReview:BOOL=ON
   # for 4.7, the OpenJPEG is needed by review but the variable must be set
     -DModule_ITKOpenJPEG:BOOL=ON
   )
 
   set(vcl_constexpr_patch)
   if(GCC_VERSION VERSION_LESS 4.7 AND GCC_VERSION VERSION_GREATER 4)
     set(vcl_constexpr_patch
       COMMAND ${PATCH_COMMAND} -N -p1 -i ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/ITK-4.5.1-gcc-4.6.patch
     )
   endif()
 
-  if(MITK_USE_HDF5 AND WIN32)
-    list(APPEND additional_cmake_args
-      -DHDF5_C_LIBRARY:FILEPATH=${ep_prefix}/lib/hdf5.lib
-      -DHDF5_CXX_LIBRARY:FILEPATH=${ep_prefix}/lib/hdf5_cpp.lib)
-  endif()
-
   ExternalProject_Add(${proj}
      LIST_SEPARATOR ${sep}
      URL ${MITK_THIRDPARTY_DOWNLOAD_PREFIX_URL}/InsightToolkit-4.7.1-20c0592.tar.gz
      URL_MD5 f778a5f0e297c06dc629c33ec45733dc
      # work with external GDCM
      PATCH_COMMAND ${PATCH_COMMAND} -N -p1 -i ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/ITK-4.5.1.patch
                    ${vcl_constexpr_patch}
      CMAKE_GENERATOR ${gen}
      CMAKE_ARGS
        ${ep_common_args}
        ${additional_cmake_args}
        -DBUILD_EXAMPLES:BOOL=OFF
        -DITK_USE_SYSTEM_GDCM:BOOL=ON
        -DGDCM_DIR:PATH=${GDCM_DIR}
-       -DHDF5_DIR:PATH=${HDF5_DIR}
-       -DITK_USE_SYSTEM_HDF5:BOOL=${MITK_USE_HDF5}
      DEPENDS ${proj_DEPENDENCIES}
     )
 
   set(ITK_DIR ${ep_prefix})
   mitkFunctionInstallExternalCMakeProject(${proj})
 
 else()
 
   mitkMacroEmptyExternalProject(${proj} "${proj_DEPENDENCIES}")
 
 endif()
diff --git a/CMakeExternals/VTK.cmake b/CMakeExternals/VTK.cmake
index f808cc5ace..07f3cd1c29 100644
--- a/CMakeExternals/VTK.cmake
+++ b/CMakeExternals/VTK.cmake
@@ -1,120 +1,112 @@
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # VTK
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 if(WIN32)
   option(VTK_USE_SYSTEM_FREETYPE OFF)
 else(WIN32)
   option(VTK_USE_SYSTEM_FREETYPE ON)
 endif(WIN32)
 
 # Sanity checks
 if(DEFINED VTK_DIR AND NOT EXISTS ${VTK_DIR})
   message(FATAL_ERROR "VTK_DIR variable is defined but corresponds to non-existing directory")
 endif()
 
 set(proj VTK)
 set(proj_DEPENDENCIES )
 set(VTK_DEPENDS ${proj})
 
 if(MITK_USE_HDF5)
   list(APPEND proj_DEPENDENCIES HDF5)
 endif()
 
 if(NOT DEFINED VTK_DIR)
 
   set(additional_cmake_args )
   if(MINGW)
     set(additional_cmake_args
         -DCMAKE_USE_WIN32_THREADS:BOOL=ON
         -DCMAKE_USE_PTHREADS:BOOL=OFF
         -DVTK_USE_VIDEO4WINDOWS:BOOL=OFF # no header files provided by MinGW
         )
   endif()
 
   if(WIN32)
     # see http://bugs.mitk.org/show_bug.cgi?id=17858
     list(APPEND additional_cmake_args
          -DVTK_DO_NOT_DEFINE_OSTREAM_SLL:BOOL=ON
          -DVTK_DO_NOT_DEFINE_OSTREAM_ULL:BOOL=ON
         )
   endif()
 
   # Optionally enable memory leak checks for any objects derived from vtkObject. This
   # will force unit tests to fail if they have any of these memory leaks.
   option(MITK_VTK_DEBUG_LEAKS OFF)
   mark_as_advanced(MITK_VTK_DEBUG_LEAKS)
   list(APPEND additional_cmake_args
        -DVTK_DEBUG_LEAKS:BOOL=${MITK_VTK_DEBUG_LEAKS}
       )
 
   if(MITK_USE_Python)
     if(NOT MITK_USE_SYSTEM_PYTHON)
      list(APPEND proj_DEPENDENCIES Python)
     endif()
     list(APPEND additional_cmake_args
          -DVTK_WRAP_PYTHON:BOOL=ON
          -DVTK_USE_TK:BOOL=OFF
          -DVTK_WINDOWS_PYTHON_DEBUGGABLE:BOOL=OFF
          -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE:FILEPATH=${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE}
          -DPYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR:PATH=${PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR}
          -DPYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR2:PATH=${PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIR2}
          -DPYTHON_LIBRARY:FILEPATH=${PYTHON_LIBRARY}
         )
   else()
     list(APPEND additional_cmake_args
          -DVTK_WRAP_PYTHON:BOOL=OFF
          -DVTK_WINDOWS_PYTHON_DEBUGGABLE:BOOL=OFF
         )
   endif()
 
   if(MITK_USE_QT)
     list(APPEND additional_cmake_args
         -DVTK_QT_VERSION:STRING=${DESIRED_QT_VERSION}
         -DQT_QMAKE_EXECUTABLE:FILEPATH=${QT_QMAKE_EXECUTABLE}
         -DModule_vtkGUISupportQt:BOOL=ON
         -DModule_vtkGUISupportQtWebkit:BOOL=ON
         -DModule_vtkGUISupportQtSQL:BOOL=ON
         -DModule_vtkRenderingQt:BOOL=ON
         -DVTK_Group_Qt:BOOL=ON
      )
   endif()
 
   set(VTK_URL ${MITK_THIRDPARTY_DOWNLOAD_PREFIX_URL}/VTK-6.1.0+74f4888.tar.gz)
   set(VTK_URL_MD5 1f19dae22c42c032109bd3cf91c4e8c9)
 
-  if(MITK_USE_HDF5 AND WIN32)
-    list(APPEND additional_cmake_args
-      -DHDF5_C_LIBRARY:FILEPATH=${ep_prefix}/lib/hdf5.lib
-      -DHDF5_CXX_LIBRARY:FILEPATH=${ep_prefix}/lib/hdf5_cpp.lib)
-  endif()
-
   ExternalProject_Add(${proj}
     LIST_SEPARATOR ${sep}
     URL ${VTK_URL}
     URL_MD5 ${VTK_URL_MD5}
     PATCH_COMMAND ${PATCH_COMMAND} -N -p1 -i ${CMAKE_CURRENT_LIST_DIR}/VTK-6.1.0+74f4888.patch
     CMAKE_GENERATOR ${gen}
     CMAKE_ARGS
         ${ep_common_args}
         -DVTK_WRAP_TCL:BOOL=OFF
         -DVTK_WRAP_PYTHON:BOOL=OFF
         -DVTK_WRAP_JAVA:BOOL=OFF
         -DVTK_USE_SYSTEM_FREETYPE:BOOL=${VTK_USE_SYSTEM_FREETYPE}
         -DVTK_LEGACY_REMOVE:BOOL=ON
         -DModule_vtkTestingRendering:BOOL=ON
         -DVTK_MAKE_INSTANTIATORS:BOOL=ON
-        -DVTK_USE_SYSTEM_HDF5:BOOL=${MITK_USE_HDF5}
-        -DHDF5_DIR:PATH=${HDF5_DIR}
         ${additional_cmake_args}
      DEPENDS ${proj_DEPENDENCIES}
     )
 
   set(VTK_DIR ${ep_prefix})
   mitkFunctionInstallExternalCMakeProject(${proj})
 
 else()
 
   mitkMacroEmptyExternalProject(${proj} "${proj_DEPENDENCIES}")
 
 endif()