diff --git a/include/ui/console.h b/include/ui/console.h
index 7b35778444ec56c74c1f470e9109e476b5390180..de57e8363a4aab9ef858291de61c846e0a7a9f53 100644
--- a/include/ui/console.h
+++ b/include/ui/console.h
@@ -468,31 +468,10 @@ static inline void cocoa_display_init(DisplayState *ds, int full_screen)
 void vnc_display_init(const char *id);
 void vnc_display_open(const char *id, Error **errp);
 void vnc_display_add_client(const char *id, int csock, bool skipauth);
-#ifdef CONFIG_VNC
 int vnc_display_password(const char *id, const char *password);
 int vnc_display_pw_expire(const char *id, time_t expires);
 QemuOpts *vnc_parse(const char *str, Error **errp);
 int vnc_init_func(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp);
-#else
-static inline int vnc_display_password(const char *id, const char *password)
-{
-    return -ENODEV;
-}
-static inline int vnc_display_pw_expire(const char *id, time_t expires)
-{
-    return -ENODEV;
-};
-static inline QemuOpts *vnc_parse(const char *str, Error **errp)
-{
-    error_setg(errp, "VNC support is disabled");
-    return NULL;
-}
-static inline int vnc_init_func(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
-{
-    error_setg(errp, "VNC support is disabled");
-    return -1;
-}
-#endif
 
 /* curses.c */
 #ifdef CONFIG_CURSES
diff --git a/ui/Makefile.objs b/ui/Makefile.objs
index 99195884b04d14aca113250ea6a0c22aa49f1db7..ced7d91a63aa18a9778e6c7d22c972693076f7b7 100644
--- a/ui/Makefile.objs
+++ b/ui/Makefile.objs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ common-obj-$(CONFIG_SDL) += sdl.mo
 common-obj-$(CONFIG_COCOA) += cocoa.o
 common-obj-$(CONFIG_CURSES) += curses.o
 common-obj-$(CONFIG_VNC) += $(vnc-obj-y)
+common-obj-$(call lnot,$(CONFIG_VNC)) += vnc-stubs.o
 common-obj-$(CONFIG_GTK) += gtk.o
 common-obj-$(if $(CONFIG_WIN32),n,$(if $(CONFIG_SDL),y,$(CONFIG_GTK))) += x_keymap.o
 
diff --git a/ui/vnc-stubs.c b/ui/vnc-stubs.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f51280549aa817d9bc2975002199eae8264561c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ui/vnc-stubs.c
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+#include "qemu/osdep.h"
+#include "ui/console.h"
+
+int vnc_display_password(const char *id, const char *password)
+{
+    return -ENODEV;
+}
+int vnc_display_pw_expire(const char *id, time_t expires)
+{
+    return -ENODEV;
+};
+QemuOpts *vnc_parse(const char *str, Error **errp)
+{
+    error_setg(errp, "VNC support is disabled");
+    return NULL;
+}
+int vnc_init_func(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
+{
+    error_setg(errp, "VNC support is disabled");
+    return -1;
+}