diff --git a/qemu-error.c b/qemu-error.c
index 5d5fe37..9b9c0a1 100644
--- a/qemu-error.c
+++ b/qemu-error.c
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@ void error_print_loc(void)
     int i;
     const char *const *argp;
 
-    if (!cur_mon) {
+    if (!cur_mon && progname) {
         fprintf(stderr, "%s:", progname);
         sep = " ";
     }