diff --git a/python/pyspark/shell.py b/python/pyspark/shell.py
index c1917d2be69d..b5fcf7092d93 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/shell.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/shell.py
@@ -24,13 +24,13 @@
 import atexit
 import os
 import platform
+import warnings
 
 import py4j
 
-import pyspark
+from pyspark import SparkConf
 from pyspark.context import SparkContext
 from pyspark.sql import SparkSession, SQLContext
-from pyspark.storagelevel import StorageLevel
 
 if os.environ.get("SPARK_EXECUTOR_URI"):
     SparkContext.setSystemProperty("spark.executor.uri", os.environ["SPARK_EXECUTOR_URI"])
@@ -39,13 +39,23 @@
 
 try:
     # Try to access HiveConf, it will raise exception if Hive is not added
-    SparkContext._jvm.org.apache.hadoop.hive.conf.HiveConf()
-    spark = SparkSession.builder\
-        .enableHiveSupport()\
-        .getOrCreate()
+    conf = SparkConf()
+    if conf.get('spark.sql.catalogImplementation', 'hive').lower() == 'hive':
+        SparkContext._jvm.org.apache.hadoop.hive.conf.HiveConf()
+        spark = SparkSession.builder\
+            .enableHiveSupport()\
+            .getOrCreate()
+    else:
+        spark = SparkSession.builder.getOrCreate()
 except py4j.protocol.Py4JError:
+    if conf.get('spark.sql.catalogImplementation', '').lower() == 'hive':
+        warnings.warn("Fall back to non-hive support because failing to access HiveConf, "
+                      "please make sure you build spark with hive")
     spark = SparkSession.builder.getOrCreate()
 except TypeError:
+    if conf.get('spark.sql.catalogImplementation', '').lower() == 'hive':
+        warnings.warn("Fall back to non-hive support because failing to access HiveConf, "
+                      "please make sure you build spark with hive")
     spark = SparkSession.builder.getOrCreate()
 
 sc = spark.sparkContext