diff --git a/qemu-options.hx b/qemu-options.hx
index 7809036d8c..5b6d16ed58 100644
--- a/qemu-options.hx
+++ b/qemu-options.hx
@@ -2428,8 +2428,10 @@ SRST
     OBP.
 ERST
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_VNC
 DEF("vnc", HAS_ARG, QEMU_OPTION_vnc ,
     "-vnc <display>  shorthand for -display vnc=<display>\n", QEMU_ARCH_ALL)
+#endif
 SRST
 ``-vnc display[,option[,option[,...]]]``
     Normally, if QEMU is compiled with graphical window support, it
diff --git a/system/vl.c b/system/vl.c
index fb0389e4d0..19aef762e4 100644
--- a/system/vl.c
+++ b/system/vl.c
@@ -1095,13 +1095,14 @@ DisplayOptions *qmp_query_display_options(Error **errp)
 
 static void parse_display(const char *p)
 {
-    const char *opts;
-
     if (is_help_option(p)) {
         qemu_display_help();
         exit(0);
     }
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_VNC
+    const char *opts;
+
     if (strstart(p, "vnc", &opts)) {
         /*
          * vnc isn't a (local) DisplayType but a protocol for remote
@@ -1113,9 +1114,11 @@ static void parse_display(const char *p)
             error_report("VNC requires a display argument vnc=<display>");
             exit(1);
         }
-    } else {
-        parse_display_qapi(p);
+        return;
     }
+#endif
+
+    parse_display_qapi(p);
 }
 
 static inline bool nonempty_str(const char *str)
@@ -3344,9 +3347,11 @@ void qemu_init(int argc, char **argv)
                 machine_parse_property_opt(qemu_find_opts("smp-opts"),
                                            "smp", optarg);
                 break;
+#ifdef CONFIG_VNC
             case QEMU_OPTION_vnc:
                 vnc_parse(optarg);
                 break;
+#endif
             case QEMU_OPTION_no_acpi:
                 warn_report("-no-acpi is deprecated, use '-machine acpi=off' instead");
                 qdict_put_str(machine_opts_dict, "acpi", "off");
diff --git a/ui/vnc-stubs.c b/ui/vnc-stubs.c
index b4eb3ce718..a96bc86236 100644
--- a/ui/vnc-stubs.c
+++ b/ui/vnc-stubs.c
@@ -10,15 +10,3 @@ int vnc_display_pw_expire(const char *id, time_t expires)
 {
     return -ENODEV;
 };
-void vnc_parse(const char *str)
-{
-    if (strcmp(str, "none") == 0) {
-        return;
-    }
-    error_setg(&error_fatal, "VNC support is disabled");
-}
-int vnc_init_func(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
-{
-    error_setg(errp, "VNC support is disabled");
-    return -1;
-}