diff --git a/mboxd.c b/mboxd.c
index 637f416ca18d06706b3dbbc31c7f2fde73a8780c..c7f7d33c0585e4c09a28f3e90dcbcde3f37e672d 100644
--- a/mboxd.c
+++ b/mboxd.c
@@ -391,6 +391,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	const struct transport_ops *mbox_ops, *dbus_ops;
 	struct mbox_context *context;
+	bool have_transport_mbox;
 	char *name = argv[0];
 	sigset_t set;
 	int rc, i;
@@ -429,8 +430,13 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	}
 
 	rc = transport_mbox_init(context, &mbox_ops);
-	if (rc) {
-		goto cleanup_protocol;
+	/* TODO: Think about whether we could use a less branch-y strategy */
+	have_transport_mbox = rc == 0;
+	if (!have_transport_mbox) {
+		/* Disable MBOX for poll()ing purposes */
+		context->fds[MBOX_FD].fd = -1;
+		MSG_DBG("Failed to initialise MBOX transport: %d\n", rc);
+		MSG_INFO("MBOX transport unavailable\n");
 	}
 
 	rc = lpc_dev_init(context);
@@ -456,10 +462,12 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	context->bmc_events |= BMC_EVENT_DAEMON_READY;
 	context->bmc_events |= BMC_EVENT_PROTOCOL_RESET;
 
-	/* Alert on all supported transports */
-	rc = protocol_events_put(context, mbox_ops);
-	if (rc) {
-		goto cleanup;
+	/* Alert on all supported transports, as required */
+	if (have_transport_mbox) {
+		rc = protocol_events_put(context, mbox_ops);
+		if (rc) {
+			goto cleanup;
+		}
 	}
 
 	rc = protocol_events_put(context, dbus_ops);
@@ -476,8 +484,11 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	context->bmc_events &= ~BMC_EVENT_DAEMON_READY;
 	context->bmc_events |= BMC_EVENT_PROTOCOL_RESET;
 
-	/* Alert on all supported transports */
-	protocol_events_put(context, mbox_ops);
+	/* Alert on all supported transports, as required */
+	if (have_transport_mbox) {
+		protocol_events_put(context, mbox_ops);
+	}
+
 	protocol_events_put(context, dbus_ops);
 
 cleanup:
@@ -487,8 +498,9 @@ cleanup_windows:
 cleanup_lpc:
 	lpc_dev_free(context);
 cleanup_mbox:
-	transport_mbox_free(context);
-cleanup_protocol:
+	if (have_transport_mbox) {
+		transport_mbox_free(context);
+	}
 	protocol_free(context);
 cleanup_backend:
 	backend_free(&context->backend);
diff --git a/test/mbox.c b/test/mbox.c
index 55af00c9502008e69e736ec4d53d176bf6ea9ccf..c224b8450e8c8786e43456afba48addcd6fb572a 100644
--- a/test/mbox.c
+++ b/test/mbox.c
@@ -211,11 +211,13 @@ void cleanup(void)
 	tmpf_destroy(&test.lpc);
 }
 
-int __transport_mbox_init(struct mbox_context *context, const char *path);
+int __transport_mbox_init(struct mbox_context *context, const char *path,
+			  const struct transport_ops **ops);
 int __lpc_dev_init(struct mbox_context *context, const char *path);
 
 struct mbox_context *mbox_create_frontend_context(int n_windows, size_t len)
 {
+	const struct transport_ops *ops;
 	struct mtd_info_user mtd_info;
 	int rc;
 
@@ -242,7 +244,8 @@ struct mbox_context *mbox_create_frontend_context(int n_windows, size_t len)
 	 * /dev/null and replace it with our own fd for mbox device emulation
 	 * by the test framework.
 	 */
-	__transport_mbox_init(&test.context, "/dev/null");
+	__transport_mbox_init(&test.context, "/dev/null", &ops);
+	test.context.transport = ops;
 	rc = close(test.context.fds[MBOX_FD].fd);
 	assert(rc == 0);
 	test.context.fds[MBOX_FD].fd = test.mbox.fd;
diff --git a/transport_dbus.c b/transport_dbus.c
index b6eb0e1b477f969a956d17458d37283cf575f194..18cd0d07eac82a762f18ab7b17c08e2b58f0676f 100644
--- a/transport_dbus.c
+++ b/transport_dbus.c
@@ -526,6 +526,8 @@ int transport_dbus_init(struct mbox_context *context,
 		return rc;
 	}
 
+	context->transport = &transport_dbus_ops;
+
 	if (ops) {
 		*ops = &transport_dbus_ops;
 	}
diff --git a/transport_mbox.c b/transport_mbox.c
index 3d718208175eeb2a450fe56a4f2e429e8b86824d..2759fa5e1cfbe8781406898966c886388df1008c 100644
--- a/transport_mbox.c
+++ b/transport_mbox.c
@@ -646,16 +646,15 @@ int transport_mbox_dispatch(struct mbox_context *context)
 	return handle_mbox_req(context, &req);
 }
 
-int __transport_mbox_init(struct mbox_context *context, const char *path)
+int __transport_mbox_init(struct mbox_context *context, const char *path,
+			  const struct transport_ops **ops)
 {
 	int fd;
 
-	context->transport = &transport_mbox_ops;
-
 	/* Open MBOX Device */
 	fd = open(path, O_RDWR | O_NONBLOCK);
 	if (fd < 0) {
-		MSG_ERR("Couldn't open %s with flags O_RDWR: %s\n",
+		MSG_INFO("Couldn't open %s with flags O_RDWR: %s\n",
 			path, strerror(errno));
 		return -errno;
 	}
@@ -663,6 +662,10 @@ int __transport_mbox_init(struct mbox_context *context, const char *path)
 
 	context->fds[MBOX_FD].fd = fd;
 
+	if (ops) {
+		*ops = &transport_mbox_ops;
+	}
+
 	return 0;
 }
 
@@ -671,14 +674,10 @@ int transport_mbox_init(struct mbox_context *context,
 {
 	int rc;
 
-	rc = __transport_mbox_init(context, MBOX_HOST_PATH);
+	rc = __transport_mbox_init(context, MBOX_HOST_PATH, ops);
 	if (rc)
 		return rc;
 
-	if (ops) {
-		*ops = &transport_mbox_ops;
-	}
-
 	return 0;
 }