diff --git a/src/libply-splash-core/ply-device-manager.c b/src/libply-splash-core/ply-device-manager.c
index 34b90ce3..ef9a63c9 100644
--- a/src/libply-splash-core/ply-device-manager.c
+++ b/src/libply-splash-core/ply-device-manager.c
@@ -832,7 +832,7 @@ parse_vconsole_conf (ply_device_manager_t *manager)
 
         ply_trace ("KEYMAP: %s, XKBLAYOUT: %s, XKBMODEL %s, XKBVARIANT: %s, XKBOPTIONS: %s\n", keymap, xkb_layout, xkb_model, xkb_variant, xkb_options);
 
-        if (manager->xkb_context != NULL) {
+        if (manager->xkb_context != NULL && (xkb_layout != NULL || keymap == NULL)) {
                 struct xkb_rule_names xkb_keymap = {
                         .layout  = xkb_layout,
                         .model   = xkb_model,