diff --git a/hw/xtensa/xtfpga.c b/hw/xtensa/xtfpga.c
index dc6fdcc266..11176e26bd 100644
--- a/hw/xtensa/xtfpga.c
+++ b/hw/xtensa/xtfpga.c
@@ -317,6 +317,7 @@ static void lx_init(const LxBoardDesc *board, MachineState *machine)
             cur_tagptr = put_tag(cur_tagptr, BP_TAG_COMMAND_LINE,
                                  strlen(kernel_cmdline) + 1, kernel_cmdline);
         }
+#ifdef CONFIG_FDT
         if (dtb_filename) {
             int fdt_size;
             void *fdt = load_device_tree(dtb_filename, &fdt_size);
@@ -332,6 +333,14 @@ static void lx_init(const LxBoardDesc *board, MachineState *machine)
                                  sizeof(dtb_addr), &dtb_addr);
             cur_lowmem = QEMU_ALIGN_UP(cur_lowmem + fdt_size, 4096);
         }
+#else
+        if (dtb_filename) {
+            error_report("could not load DTB '%s': "
+                         "FDT support is not configured in QEMU",
+                         dtb_filename);
+            exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+        }
+#endif
         if (initrd_filename) {
             BpMemInfo initrd_location = { 0 };
             int initrd_size = load_ramdisk(initrd_filename, cur_lowmem,