Here is an example compile and run scenario. Notice that the number of threads is set prior to the run. [aapon@prospero private]$ icc -openmp -o 01hello-omp 01hello-omp.c [aapon@prospero private]$ export OMP_NUM_THREADS=4 [aapon@prospero private]$ ./01hello-omp Hello World from thread = 0 Number of threads = 4 Hello World from thread = 1 Hello World from thread = 2 Hello World from thread = 3