diff --git a/src/game_preferences_display.cpp b/src/game_preferences_display.cpp
index 9562544d7f49..dfbdcbcab6a3 100644
--- a/src/game_preferences_display.cpp
+++ b/src/game_preferences_display.cpp
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include "gui/dialogs/transient_message.hpp"
 #include "lobby_preferences.hpp"
 #include "marked-up_text.hpp"
+#include "notifications/notifications.hpp" //needed to check if notifications are not available
 #include "preferences_display.hpp"
 #include "wml_separators.hpp"
 #include "widgets/combo.hpp"
@@ -1375,6 +1376,13 @@ void preferences_dialog::process_event()
 				if(pref["field"] == "color_cursors") {
 					set_color_cursors(advanced_button_.checked());
 				}
+
+				if (pref["field"] == "disable_notifications" && !advanced_button_check && !notifications::available()) {
+					gui::dialog(*display::get_singleton()
+							, _("Notifications Not Available")
+							, _("Support for notifications was not found. Please check with the packager for your platform, or if compiling yourself, check that you have the appropriate dependencies for your platform to support this feature.") 
+							, gui::OK_ONLY).show();
+				}
 			}
 		}
 
@@ -1663,7 +1671,7 @@ void preferences_dialog::set_selection(int index)
 	advanced_option_label_.hide(hide_advanced_int && hide_advanced_combo);
 }
 
-}
+} //end anonymous namespace
 
 void show_preferences_dialog(display& disp, const config& game_cfg)
 {
@@ -1788,4 +1796,4 @@ std::string show_wesnothd_server_search(display& disp)
 }
 
 
-}
+} // end namespace preferences
diff --git a/src/notifications/notifications.cpp b/src/notifications/notifications.cpp
index fe8184e6d8cb..e5234962ac87 100644
--- a/src/notifications/notifications.cpp
+++ b/src/notifications/notifications.cpp
@@ -40,11 +40,18 @@
 
 namespace notifications
 {
+
 #if !(defined(HAVE_LIBDBUS) || defined(HAVE_GROWL) || defined(_WIN32))
+
+bool available() { return false; }
+
 void send_notification(const std::string& /*owner*/, const std::string& /*message*/, type /*t*/)
 {}
+
 #else
 
+bool available() { return true; }
+
 void send_notification(const std::string& owner, const std::string& message, type t)
 {
 	if (preferences::get("disable_notifications", false)) { return; }
diff --git a/src/notifications/notifications.hpp b/src/notifications/notifications.hpp
index fd8743834985..cb63e6df7729 100644
--- a/src/notifications/notifications.hpp
+++ b/src/notifications/notifications.hpp
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ namespace notifications
 	enum type {CHAT, TURN_CHANGED, OTHER};
 
 	void send_notification(const std::string& owner, const std::string& message, type t);
+
+	bool available();
 }
 
 #endif