diff --git a/src/conio/ciolib.c b/src/conio/ciolib.c
index 00ea8748e347e0e93d70f1083e6cf652de4fae9c..89d18dc77479dba43a863071d3ad3b23c419d179 100644
--- a/src/conio/ciolib.c
+++ b/src/conio/ciolib.c
@@ -1285,6 +1285,8 @@ CIOLIBEXPORT int ciolib_gettext(int a,int b,int c,int d,void *e)
 	CIOLIB_INIT();
 
 	if (cio_api.gettext == NULL) {
+		if (cio_api.vmem_gettext == NULL)
+			return 0;
 		buf = malloc((c-a+1)*(d-b+1)*sizeof(*buf));
 		if (buf == NULL)
 			return 0;