diff --git a/arch_init.c b/arch_init.c
index 5cc58b2c35..34e7694e4c 100644
--- a/arch_init.c
+++ b/arch_init.c
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@
 #include "sysemu/arch_init.h"
 #include "hw/pci/pci.h"
 #include "hw/audio/audio.h"
-#include "hw/smbios/smbios.h"
 #include "qemu/config-file.h"
 #include "qemu/error-report.h"
 #include "qmp-commands.h"
@@ -248,13 +247,6 @@ void do_acpitable_option(const QemuOpts *opts)
 #endif
 }
 
-void do_smbios_option(QemuOpts *opts)
-{
-#ifdef TARGET_I386
-    smbios_entry_add(opts);
-#endif
-}
-
 int kvm_available(void)
 {
 #ifdef CONFIG_KVM
diff --git a/hw/Makefile.objs b/hw/Makefile.objs
index 0ffd281145..2a73ae598f 100644
--- a/hw/Makefile.objs
+++ b/hw/Makefile.objs
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ devices-dirs-$(CONFIG_VIRTIO) += virtio/
 devices-dirs-$(CONFIG_SOFTMMU) += watchdog/
 devices-dirs-$(CONFIG_SOFTMMU) += xen/
 devices-dirs-$(CONFIG_MEM_HOTPLUG) += mem/
-devices-dirs-$(CONFIG_SMBIOS) += smbios/
+devices-dirs-$(CONFIG_SOFTMMU) += smbios/
 devices-dirs-y += core/
 common-obj-y += $(devices-dirs-y)
 obj-y += $(devices-dirs-y)
diff --git a/hw/smbios/Makefile.objs b/hw/smbios/Makefile.objs
index c3d3753602..ee0712bae0 100644
--- a/hw/smbios/Makefile.objs
+++ b/hw/smbios/Makefile.objs
@@ -1,2 +1,5 @@
 common-obj-$(CONFIG_SMBIOS) += smbios.o
 common-obj-$(call land,$(CONFIG_SMBIOS),$(CONFIG_IPMI)) += smbios_type_38.o
+
+common-obj-$(call lnot,$(CONFIG_SMBIOS)) += smbios-stub.o
+common-obj-$(CONFIG_ALL) += smbios-stub.o
diff --git a/hw/smbios/smbios-stub.c b/hw/smbios/smbios-stub.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..308739410f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hw/smbios/smbios-stub.c
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/*
+ * SMBIOS stubs for platforms that don't support SMBIOS.
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2010 Isaku Yamahata <yamahata at valinux co jp>
+ *                    VA Linux Systems Japan K.K.
+ * Copyright (c) 2016 Leif Lindholm <leif.lindholm@linaro.org>
+ *                    Linaro Ltd.
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+ * with this program; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "qapi/qmp/qerror.h"
+#include "qmp-commands.h"
+#include "hw/smbios/smbios.h"
+
+void smbios_entry_add(QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
+{
+    error_setg(errp, QERR_UNSUPPORTED);
+}
diff --git a/hw/smbios/smbios.c b/hw/smbios/smbios.c
index 3a96cededd..1a5437a07d 100644
--- a/hw/smbios/smbios.c
+++ b/hw/smbios/smbios.c
@@ -882,7 +882,7 @@ static void save_opt(const char **dest, QemuOpts *opts, const char *name)
     }
 }
 
-void smbios_entry_add(QemuOpts *opts)
+void smbios_entry_add(QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
 {
     const char *val;
 
diff --git a/include/hw/smbios/smbios.h b/include/hw/smbios/smbios.h
index 1cd53cc58c..31e8d5f47e 100644
--- a/include/hw/smbios/smbios.h
+++ b/include/hw/smbios/smbios.h
@@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ struct smbios_type_127 {
     struct smbios_structure_header header;
 } QEMU_PACKED;
 
-void smbios_entry_add(QemuOpts *opts);
+void smbios_entry_add(QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp);
 void smbios_set_cpuid(uint32_t version, uint32_t features);
 void smbios_set_defaults(const char *manufacturer, const char *product,
                          const char *version, bool legacy_mode,
diff --git a/include/sysemu/arch_init.h b/include/sysemu/arch_init.h
index 1c9dad1b72..88dcf77a62 100644
--- a/include/sysemu/arch_init.h
+++ b/include/sysemu/arch_init.h
@@ -29,7 +29,6 @@ extern const uint32_t arch_type;
 
 void select_soundhw(const char *optarg);
 void do_acpitable_option(const QemuOpts *opts);
-void do_smbios_option(QemuOpts *opts);
 void audio_init(void);
 int kvm_available(void);
 int xen_available(void);
diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index c643d3ff3a..63355e5d63 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -3707,7 +3707,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv, char **envp)
                 if (!opts) {
                     exit(1);
                 }
-                do_smbios_option(opts);
+                smbios_entry_add(opts, &error_fatal);
                 break;
             case QEMU_OPTION_fwcfg:
                 opts = qemu_opts_parse_noisily(qemu_find_opts("fw_cfg"),