diff --git a/scripts/runqemu b/scripts/runqemu
index 3e4e3ff8e2..4050dccfbe 100755
--- a/scripts/runqemu
+++ b/scripts/runqemu
@@ -557,7 +557,8 @@ class BaseConfig(object):
             elif os.getenv('DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE'):
                 deploy_dir_image = os.getenv('DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE')
             else:
-                raise OEPathError("DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE is NULL!")
+                logger.info("Can't find qemuboot conf file, DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE is NULL!")
+                return
 
             if self.rootfs and not os.path.exists(self.rootfs):
                 # Lazy rootfs
@@ -574,6 +575,11 @@ class BaseConfig(object):
                     self.qemuboot = qbs.split()[0]
                     self.qbconfload = True
 
+        if not self.qemuboot:
+            # If we haven't found a .qemuboot.conf at this point it probably
+            # doesn't exist, continue without
+            return
+
         if not os.path.exists(self.qemuboot):
             raise Exception("Failed to find <image>.qemuboot.conf!")