diff --git a/qubes-rpc/gui-fatal.c b/qubes-rpc/gui-fatal.c
index d50db098b..570d062a5 100644
--- a/qubes-rpc/gui-fatal.c
+++ b/qubes-rpc/gui-fatal.c
@@ -13,33 +13,40 @@ static void fix_display(void)
     setenv("DISPLAY", ":0", 1);
 }
 
-static void produce_message(const char * type, const char *fmt, va_list args)
+static void produce_message(const char *type, const char *fmt, va_list args)
 {
     char *dialog_msg;
+    const char *progress_type = getenv("PROGRESS_TYPE");
     char buf[1024];
-    (void) vsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), fmt, args);
-    if (asprintf(&dialog_msg, "%s: %s: %s (error type: %s)",
-         program_invocation_short_name, type, buf, strerror(errno)) < 0) {
+    (void)vsnprintf(buf, sizeof(buf), fmt, args);
+
+    if (asprintf(&dialog_msg, "%s: %s: %s (error type: %s)", program_invocation_short_name, type, buf, strerror(errno)) < 0)
+    {
         fprintf(stderr, "Failed to allocate memory for error message :(\n");
         return;
     }
+
     fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", dialog_msg);
-    switch (fork()) {
-    case -1:
-        exit(1);    //what else
-    case 0:
-        if (geteuid() == 0)
-            if (setuid(getuid()) != 0)
-                perror("setuid failed, calling kdialog/zenity as root");
-        fix_display();
+
+    if (progress_type && !strcmp(progress_type, "gui"))
+    {
+        switch (fork())
+        {
+        case -1:
+            exit(1); // what else
+        case 0:
+            if (geteuid() == 0)
+                if (setuid(getuid()) != 0)
+                    perror("setuid failed, calling kdialog/zenity as root");
+            fix_display();
 #ifdef USE_KDIALOG
-        execlp("/usr/bin/kdialog", "kdialog", "--sorry", dialog_msg, NULL);
+            execlp("/usr/bin/kdialog", "kdialog", "--sorry", dialog_msg, NULL);
 #else
-
-        execlp("/usr/bin/zenity", "zenity", "--error",  "--text", dialog_msg, NULL);
+            execlp("/usr/bin/zenity", "zenity", "--error", "--text", dialog_msg, NULL);
 #endif
-        exit(1);
-    default:;
+            exit(1);
+        default:;
+        }
     }
     free(dialog_msg);
 }
@@ -53,7 +60,8 @@ void gui_fatal(const char *fmt, ...)
     exit(1);
 }
 
-void qfile_gui_fatal(const char *fmt, va_list args) {
+void qfile_gui_fatal(const char *fmt, va_list args)
+{
     produce_message("Fatal error", fmt, args);
     exit(1);
 }