diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index e5ee162779c..9e1ef4f5d4b 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -667,7 +667,6 @@ if(UNIX AND NOT APPLE)
 
 		if(NOT OPENIMAGEIO_FOUND)
 			set(WITH_OPENIMAGEIO OFF)
-			set(WITH_CYCLES OFF)
 			message(STATUS "OpenImageIO not found, disabling WITH_CYCLES")
 		endif()
 	endif()
@@ -1458,6 +1457,16 @@ if(APPLE OR WIN32)
 	endif()
 endif()
 
+if(WITH_CYCLES)
+	if(NOT WITH_OPENIMAGEIO)
+		message(FATAL_ERROR "Cycles reqires WITH_OPENIMAGEIO, the library may not have been found. Configure OIIO or disable WITH_CYCLES")
+	endif()
+	if(NOT WITH_BOOST)
+		message(FATAL_ERROR "Cycles reqires WITH_BOOST, the library may not have been found. Configure BOOST or disable WITH_CYCLES")
+	endif()
+endif()
+
+
 # See TEST_SSE_SUPPORT() for how this is defined.
 
 if(WITH_RAYOPTIMIZATION)