diff --git a/ui/opensnitch/desktop_parser.py b/ui/opensnitch/desktop_parser.py
index 67b9cced95..daf33320d2 100644
--- a/ui/opensnitch/desktop_parser.py
+++ b/ui/opensnitch/desktop_parser.py
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
 from threading import Lock
 import configparser
-import pyinotify
 import threading
 import glob
 import os
 import re
 import locale
 
+is_pyinotify_available = True
+try:
+    import pyinotify
+except Exception as e:
+    is_pyinotify_available = False
+    print("Error importing pyinotify:", e)
+
 DESKTOP_PATHS = tuple([
     os.path.join(d, 'applications')
     for d in os.getenv('XDG_DATA_DIRS', '/usr/share/').split(':')
@@ -36,7 +42,8 @@ def __init__(self):
             for desktop_file in glob.glob(os.path.join(desktop_path, '*.desktop')):
                 self._parse_desktop_file(desktop_file)
 
-        self.start()
+        if is_pyinotify_available:
+            self.start()
 
     def get_locale(self):
         try: