diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/ejb/_private/Logs.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/ejb/_private/Logs.java
index ef3b37c18..3ff1df72e 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/ejb/_private/Logs.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/ejb/_private/Logs.java
@@ -36,8 +36,11 @@
 import org.jboss.logging.annotations.Message;
 import org.jboss.logging.annotations.MessageLogger;
 import org.jboss.logging.annotations.Once;
+import org.jboss.logging.annotations.Param;
 import org.jboss.logging.annotations.Property;
 import org.jboss.remoting3.Channel;
+import org.wildfly.client.config.ConfigXMLParseException;
+import org.wildfly.client.config.ConfigurationXMLStreamReader;
 
 import javax.ejb.EJBException;
 import javax.naming.CommunicationException;
@@ -318,6 +321,11 @@ public interface Logs extends BasicLogger {
     @Message(id = 102, value = "No asynchronous operation in progress")
     IllegalStateException noAsyncInProgress();
 
+    // Configuration problems
+
+    @Message(id = 200, value = "Cannot load from a module when jboss-modules is not available")
+    ConfigXMLParseException noJBossModules(@Param ConfigurationXMLStreamReader streamReader);
+
     // Invocation result exceptions
 
     @Message(id = 400, value = "Remote invocation failed due to an exception")
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jboss/ejb/client/ConfigurationBasedEJBClientContextSelector.java b/src/main/java/org/jboss/ejb/client/ConfigurationBasedEJBClientContextSelector.java
index ad1e3e237..e5d55c040 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jboss/ejb/client/ConfigurationBasedEJBClientContextSelector.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jboss/ejb/client/ConfigurationBasedEJBClientContextSelector.java
@@ -157,9 +157,9 @@ private static void parseInterceptorType(final ConfigurationXMLStreamReader stre
         ClassLoader cl;
         if (moduleName != null) {
             try {
-                cl = Module.getModuleFromCallerModuleLoader(ModuleIdentifier.fromString(moduleName)).getClassLoader();
-            } catch (ModuleLoadException e) {
-                throw new ConfigXMLParseException(e);
+                cl = ModuleLoadDelegate.loadModule(moduleName);
+            } catch (LinkageError e) {
+                throw Logs.MAIN.noJBossModules(streamReader);
             }
         } else {
             cl = ConfigurationBasedEJBClientContextSelector.class.getClassLoader();
@@ -180,6 +180,16 @@ private static void parseInterceptorType(final ConfigurationXMLStreamReader stre
         throw streamReader.unexpectedElement();
     }
 
+    static final class ModuleLoadDelegate {
+        static ClassLoader loadModule(String moduleName) throws ConfigXMLParseException {
+            try {
+                return Module.getModuleFromCallerModuleLoader(ModuleIdentifier.fromString(moduleName)).getClassLoader();
+            } catch (ModuleLoadException e) {
+                throw new ConfigXMLParseException(e);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     private static void parseConnectionsType(final ConfigurationXMLStreamReader streamReader, final EJBClientContext.Builder builder) throws ConfigXMLParseException {
         if (streamReader.getAttributeCount() > 0) {
             throw streamReader.unexpectedAttribute(0);