diff --git a/src/examples/media-session/access-portal.c b/src/examples/media-session/access-portal.c
index 7c5c43662..53ab07fe5 100644
--- a/src/examples/media-session/access-portal.c
+++ b/src/examples/media-session/access-portal.c
@@ -346,6 +346,15 @@ static void do_permission_store_check(struct client *client)
 					client);
 		return;
 	}
+	if (impl->bus == NULL) {
+		pw_log_debug("Ignoring portal check for client %p: dbus disabled",
+			     client);
+		client->allowed_media_roles = MEDIA_ROLE_ALL;
+		sm_media_session_for_each_object(impl->session,
+					set_global_permissions,
+					client);
+		return;
+	}
 
 	client->allowed_media_roles = MEDIA_ROLE_NONE;
 
@@ -553,6 +562,9 @@ static int init_dbus_connection(struct impl *impl)
 {
 	DBusError error;
 
+	if (impl->bus == NULL)
+		return 0;
+
 	dbus_error_init(&error);
 
 	dbus_bus_add_match(impl->bus,
diff --git a/src/examples/media-session/media-session.c b/src/examples/media-session/media-session.c
index a3e772ec2..d0ca6596b 100644
--- a/src/examples/media-session/media-session.c
+++ b/src/examples/media-session/media-session.c
@@ -2172,15 +2172,15 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[])
 
 	support = pw_context_get_support(impl.this.context, &n_support);
 
-	if ((str = pw_properties_get(impl.this.props, "dbus")) == NULL ||
-	    pw_properties_parse_bool(str)) {
-		impl.dbus = spa_support_find(support, n_support, SPA_TYPE_INTERFACE_DBus);
-		if (impl.dbus)
-			impl.this.dbus_connection = spa_dbus_get_connection(impl.dbus, SPA_DBUS_TYPE_SESSION);
+	impl.dbus = spa_support_find(support, n_support, SPA_TYPE_INTERFACE_DBus);
+	if (impl.dbus) {
+		impl.this.dbus_connection = spa_dbus_get_connection(impl.dbus, SPA_DBUS_TYPE_SESSION);
 		if (impl.this.dbus_connection == NULL)
 			pw_log_warn("no dbus connection");
 		else
 			pw_log_debug("got dbus connection %p", impl.this.dbus_connection);
+	} else {
+		pw_log_info("dbus diabled");
 	}
 
 	if ((res = start_session(&impl)) < 0)