diff --git a/ui/spice-app.c b/ui/spice-app.c
index 026124ef56..4325ac2d9c 100644
--- a/ui/spice-app.c
+++ b/ui/spice-app.c
@@ -129,6 +129,7 @@ static void spice_app_atexit(void)
 static void spice_app_display_early_init(DisplayOptions *opts)
 {
     QemuOpts *qopts;
+    QemuOptsList *list;
     GError *err = NULL;
 
     if (opts->has_full_screen) {
@@ -159,11 +160,16 @@ static void spice_app_display_early_init(DisplayOptions *opts)
             exit(1);
         }
     }
+    list = qemu_find_opts("spice");
+    if (list == NULL) {
+        error_report("spice-app missing spice support");
+        exit(1);
+    }
 
     type_register(&char_vc_type_info);
 
     sock_path = g_strjoin("", app_dir, "/", "spice.sock", NULL);
-    qopts = qemu_opts_create(qemu_find_opts("spice"), NULL, 0, &error_abort);
+    qopts = qemu_opts_create(list, NULL, 0, &error_abort);
     qemu_opt_set(qopts, "disable-ticketing", "on", &error_abort);
     qemu_opt_set(qopts, "unix", "on", &error_abort);
     qemu_opt_set(qopts, "addr", sock_path, &error_abort);