diff --git a/avogadro/rendering/glrenderer.cpp b/avogadro/rendering/glrenderer.cpp
index 65d1e2767d..4035e7e3e9 100644
--- a/avogadro/rendering/glrenderer.cpp
+++ b/avogadro/rendering/glrenderer.cpp
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ GLRenderer::~GLRenderer()
 void GLRenderer::initialize()
 {
   GLenum result = glewInit();
-  m_valid = (result == GLEW_OK);
+  m_valid = (result == GLEW_OK || result == GLEW_ERROR_NO_GLX_DISPLAY);
   if (!m_valid) {
     m_error += "GLEW could not be initialized.\n";
     return;
diff --git a/avogadro/vtk/vtkAvogadroActor.cpp b/avogadro/vtk/vtkAvogadroActor.cpp
index 9696cf3345..991f281488 100644
--- a/avogadro/vtk/vtkAvogadroActor.cpp
+++ b/avogadro/vtk/vtkAvogadroActor.cpp
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ int vtkAvogadroActor::RenderOpaqueGeometry(vtkViewport *)
 {
   if (!m_initialized) {
     GLenum result = glewInit();
-    if (result != GLEW_OK) {
+    if (result != GLEW_OK && result != GLEW_ERROR_NO_GLX_DISPLAY) {
       cout << "Error, could not initialize GLEW." << endl;
       return 0;
     }