diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index 842e897d75460104b57f47436efbfcbea7b502d5..b363a217799fd474c5b4e2e979b6f813a06845c2 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -2651,15 +2651,20 @@ static MachineClass *machine_parse(const char *name)
     if (mc) {
         return mc;
     }
-    printf("Supported machines are:\n");
-    for (el = machines; el; el = el->next) {
-        MachineClass *mc = el->data;
-        QEMUMachine *m = mc->qemu_machine;
-        if (m->alias) {
-            printf("%-20s %s (alias of %s)\n", m->alias, m->desc, m->name);
+    if (name && !is_help_option(name)) {
+        error_report("Unsupported machine type");
+        error_printf("Use -machine help to list supported machines!\n");
+    } else {
+        printf("Supported machines are:\n");
+        for (el = machines; el; el = el->next) {
+            MachineClass *mc = el->data;
+            QEMUMachine *m = mc->qemu_machine;
+            if (m->alias) {
+                printf("%-20s %s (alias of %s)\n", m->alias, m->desc, m->name);
+            }
+            printf("%-20s %s%s\n", m->name, m->desc,
+                   m->is_default ? " (default)" : "");
         }
-        printf("%-20s %s%s\n", m->name, m->desc,
-               m->is_default ? " (default)" : "");
     }
 
     g_slist_free(machines);