diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 0026388343..e1a31fb332 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -3704,7 +3704,8 @@ export target_list source_path use_containers cpu
 $source_path/tests/tcg/configure.sh)
 
 # temporary config to build submodules
-for rom in seabios; do
+if test -f $source_path/roms/seabios/Makefile; then
+  for rom in seabios; do
     config_mak=roms/$rom/config.mak
     echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $config_mak
     echo "SRC_PATH=$source_path/roms/$rom" >> $config_mak
@@ -3717,7 +3718,8 @@ for rom in seabios; do
     echo "IASL=$iasl" >> $config_mak
     echo "LD=$ld" >> $config_mak
     echo "RANLIB=$ranlib" >> $config_mak
-done
+  done
+fi
 
 config_mak=pc-bios/optionrom/config.mak
 echo "# Automatically generated by configure - do not modify" > $config_mak