diff --git a/oshmem/mca/sshmem/verbs/configure.m4 b/oshmem/mca/sshmem/verbs/configure.m4
index e374770bbd6..1f8820386ec 100644
--- a/oshmem/mca/sshmem/verbs/configure.m4
+++ b/oshmem/mca/sshmem/verbs/configure.m4
@@ -110,7 +110,8 @@ AC_DEFUN([MCA_oshmem_sshmem_verbs_CONFIG],[
     AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(MPAGE_HAVE_IBV_EXP_REG_MR_CREATE_FLAGS, $exp_reg_mr_happy, [create_flags field is part of ibv_exp_reg_mr_in])
 
     AS_IF([test "$enable_verbs_sshmem" = "yes" && test "$oshmem_verbs_sm_build_verbs" = "0"],
-          [AC_MSG_WARN([VERBS shared memory support requested but not found])])
+          [AC_MSG_WARN([VERBS shared memory support requested but not found])
+           AC_MSG_ERROR([Cannot continue])])
 
     AS_IF([test "$oshmem_verbs_sm_build_verbs" = "1"], [$1], [$2])