diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index f8999403..46630875 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -114,8 +114,13 @@ QEMU_PARAMS += -serial stdio
 QEMU_PARAMS += -no-reboot -no-shutdown
 QEMU_PARAMS += -smp cpus=4
 ifeq ($(SYSTEM),LINUX)
+ifneq ($(USE_KVM), false) # you can hard-disable KVM use with the USE_KVM environment variable
+HAVE_KVM=$(shell lsmod | awk '/^kvm / {print $$1}')
+ifeq ($(HAVE_KVM), kvm)
 QEMU_PARAMS += -enable-kvm
-endif
+endif # HAVE_KVM
+endif # USE_KVM
+endif # SYSTEM == LINUX
 
 QEMU_PARAMS_KERNEL := -append "param1 param2 param3"
 QEMU_PARAMS_DEBUG := -s &