diff --git a/README b/README
index d1f551f..caecb69 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -15,15 +15,19 @@ with:
    ./configure --with-gtk=3.0  (or =2.0)
 
 Virt Viewer uses the GTK-VNC (>= 0.4.3) widget to provide a
-display of the VNC protocol. This is available from
+display of the VNC protocol, which is available from
 
   http://gtk-vnc.sourceforge.net/
 
-Optionally Virt Viewer can also provide a SPICE client
-using the SPICE-GTK widget (>= 0.6) available from
+Virt Viewer uses the SPICE-GTK (>= 0.6) widget to provide a
+display of the SPICE protocol, which is available from:
 
   http://spice-space.org/page/Spice-Gtk
 
+Use of either SPICE-GTK or GTK-VNC can be disabled at time
+of configure, with --without-gtk-vnc or --without-spice-gtk
+respectively.
+
 Virt Viewer uses libvirt to lookup information about the
 guest OS display. This is available from
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 4fee775..fbbacb5 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -70,7 +70,22 @@ AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_GTK_3],[test "$with_gtk" = "3.0"])
 
 PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTK, gtk+-$GTK_API_VERSION >= $GTK_REQUIRED)
 
-PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTK_VNC, gtk-vnc-$GTK_VNC_API_VERSION >= $GTK_VNC_REQUIRED)
+AC_ARG_WITH([gtk-vnc],
+    AS_HELP_STRING([--without-gtk-vnc], [Ignore presence of gtk-vnc and disable it]))
+
+AS_IF([test "x$with_gtk_vnc" != "xno"],
+      [PKG_CHECK_MODULES(GTK_VNC,
+                         gtk-vnc-$GTK_VNC_API_VERSION >= $GTK_VNC_REQUIRED,
+                         [have_gtk_vnc=yes], [have_gtk_vnc=no])],
+      [have_gtk_vnc=no])
+
+AS_IF([test "x$have_gtk_vnc" = "xyes"],
+      [AC_DEFINE([HAVE_GTK_VNC], 1, [Have gtk-vnc?])],
+      [AS_IF([test "x$with_gtk_vnc" = "xyes"],
+             [AC_MSG_ERROR([gtk-vnc requested but not found])
+      ])
+])
+AM_CONDITIONAL([HAVE_GTK_VNC], [test "x$have_gtk_vnc" = "xyes"])
 
 AC_ARG_WITH([spice-gtk],
     AS_HELP_STRING([--without-spice-gtk], [Ignore presence of spice-gtk and disable it]))
diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index d0aa73a..4643de9 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -1,4 +1,3 @@
-
 bin_PROGRAMS = virt-viewer
 
 builderxmldir = $(pkgdatadir)/ui
@@ -17,9 +16,7 @@ virt_viewer_SOURCES = \
 	virt-viewer-events.h virt-viewer-events.c \
 	virt-viewer-app.h virt-viewer-app.c \
 	virt-viewer-session.h virt-viewer-session.c \
-	virt-viewer-session-vnc.h virt-viewer-session-vnc.c \
 	virt-viewer-display.h virt-viewer-display.c \
-	virt-viewer-display-vnc.h virt-viewer-display-vnc.c \
 	virt-viewer-notebook.h virt-viewer-notebook.c \
 	virt-viewer-window.h virt-viewer-window.c \
 	view/autoDrawer.c \
@@ -29,6 +26,11 @@ virt_viewer_SOURCES = \
 	view/ovBox.c \
 	view/ovBox.h
 
+if HAVE_GTK_VNC
+virt_viewer_SOURCES += \
+	virt-viewer-session-vnc.h virt-viewer-session-vnc.c \
+	virt-viewer-display-vnc.h virt-viewer-display-vnc.c
+endif
 
 if HAVE_SPICE_GTK
 virt_viewer_SOURCES += \
diff --git a/src/virt-viewer-app.c b/src/virt-viewer-app.c
index 94c95e0..3b468b3 100644
--- a/src/virt-viewer-app.c
+++ b/src/virt-viewer-app.c
@@ -54,7 +54,9 @@
 #include "virt-viewer-auth.h"
 #include "virt-viewer-window.h"
 #include "virt-viewer-session.h"
+#ifdef HAVE_GTK_VNC
 #include "virt-viewer-session-vnc.h"
+#endif
 #ifdef HAVE_SPICE_GTK
 #include "virt-viewer-session-spice.h"
 #endif
@@ -574,11 +576,13 @@ virt_viewer_app_create_session(VirtViewerApp *self, const gchar *type)
 	VirtViewerAppPrivate *priv = self->priv;
 	g_return_val_if_fail(priv->session == NULL, -1);
 
+#ifdef HAVE_GTK_VNC
 	if (g_strcasecmp(type, "vnc") == 0) {
 		virt_viewer_app_trace(self, "Guest %s has a %s display\n",
 				      priv->guest_name, type);
 		priv->session = virt_viewer_session_vnc_new();
 	} else
+#endif
 #ifdef HAVE_SPICE_GTK
 	if (g_strcasecmp(type, "spice") == 0) {
 		virt_viewer_app_trace(self, "Guest %s has a %s display\n",
diff --git a/src/virt-viewer-auth.c b/src/virt-viewer-auth.c
index 811051f..d6c0300 100644
--- a/src/virt-viewer-auth.c
+++ b/src/virt-viewer-auth.c
@@ -22,10 +22,13 @@
 
 #include <config.h>
 
-#include <vncdisplay.h>
 #include <gtk/gtk.h>
 #include <string.h>
 
+#ifdef HAVE_GTK_VNC
+#include <vncdisplay.h>
+#endif
+
 #include "virt-viewer-auth.h"
 
 
@@ -88,6 +91,7 @@ virt_viewer_auth_collect_credentials(const char *type,
 	return response == GTK_RESPONSE_OK ? 0 : -1;
 }
 
+#ifdef HAVE_GTK_VNC
 void
 virt_viewer_auth_vnc_credentials(GtkWidget *vnc,
 				 GValueArray *credList,
@@ -167,7 +171,7 @@ virt_viewer_auth_vnc_credentials(GtkWidget *vnc,
         g_free(username);
 	g_free(password);
 }
-
+#endif
 
 
 int
diff --git a/src/virt-viewer-main.c b/src/virt-viewer-main.c
index 5b8b3b3..7e2886b 100644
--- a/src/virt-viewer-main.c
+++ b/src/virt-viewer-main.c
@@ -22,11 +22,14 @@
 
 #include <config.h>
 #include <locale.h>
-#include <vncdisplay.h>
 #include <gtk/gtk.h>
 #include <glib/gi18n.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 
+#ifdef HAVE_GTK_VNC
+#include <vncdisplay.h>
+#endif
+
 #include "virt-viewer.h"
 
 static void virt_viewer_version(void)
@@ -88,7 +91,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	context = g_option_context_new (_("- Virtual machine graphical console"));
 	g_option_context_add_main_entries (context, options, NULL);
 	g_option_context_add_group (context, gtk_get_option_group (TRUE));
+#ifdef HAVE_GTK_VNC
 	g_option_context_add_group (context, vnc_display_get_option_group ());
+#endif
 	g_option_context_parse (context, &argc, &argv, &error);
 	if (error) {
 		g_printerr("%s\n%s\n",