diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index def2ae23cd..04642975af 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -52,8 +52,13 @@ SUBDIR_MAKEFLAGS=$(if $(V),,--no-print-directory) BUILD_DIR=$(BUILD_DIR)
 SUBDIR_DEVICES_MAK=$(patsubst %, %/config-devices.mak, $(TARGET_DIRS))
 SUBDIR_DEVICES_MAK_DEP=$(patsubst %, %/config-devices.mak.d, $(TARGET_DIRS))
 
+ifeq ($(SUBDIR_DEVICES_MAK),)
+config-all-devices.mak:
+	$(call quiet-command,echo '# no devices' > $@,"  GEN   $@")
+else
 config-all-devices.mak: $(SUBDIR_DEVICES_MAK)
 	$(call quiet-command,cat $(SUBDIR_DEVICES_MAK) | grep =y | sort -u > $@,"  GEN   $@")
+endif
 
 -include $(SUBDIR_DEVICES_MAK_DEP)
 
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 1b865174e1..8f99b7b941 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1286,10 +1286,6 @@ if test -z "$target_list" ; then
 else
     target_list=`echo "$target_list" | sed -e 's/,/ /g'`
 fi
-if test -z "$target_list" ; then
-    echo "No targets enabled"
-    exit 1
-fi
 # see if system emulation was really requested
 case " $target_list " in
   *"-softmmu "*) softmmu=yes