diff --git a/vip_hci/config/utils_conf.py b/vip_hci/config/utils_conf.py
index c5d42fd8..2b24a9b7 100644
--- a/vip_hci/config/utils_conf.py
+++ b/vip_hci/config/utils_conf.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 from inspect import signature, Parameter
 from functools import wraps
 import multiprocessing
+import warnings
 from vip_hci import __version__
 
 sep = "―" * 80
@@ -475,9 +476,16 @@ def pool_map(nproc, fkt, *args, **kwargs):
         avail_methods = multiprocessing.get_all_start_methods()
         if 'fork' in avail_methods:
             # faster when available
-            multiprocessing.set_start_method("fork", force=True)
+            warnings.filterwarnings("error")  # allows to catch warning as error
+            try:
+                multiprocessing.set_start_method("fork", force=True)
+            except (DeprecationWarning, OSError):
+                multiprocessing.set_start_method("spawn", force=True)
+        elif 'forkserver' in avail_methods:
+            multiprocessing.set_start_method("forkserver", force=True)
         else:
             multiprocessing.set_start_method("spawn", force=True)
+        warnings.resetwarnings()  # reset warning behaviour to default
         from multiprocessing import Pool
 
         # deactivate multithreading