diff --git a/cmd/hakurei/command.go b/cmd/hakurei/command.go
index d706bd2..0ce3b71 100644
--- a/cmd/hakurei/command.go
+++ b/cmd/hakurei/command.go
@@ -162,8 +162,12 @@ func buildCommand(out io.Writer) command.Command {
 
 				// override log from configuration
 				if dbusVerbose {
-					config.SessionBus.Log = true
-					config.SystemBus.Log = true
+					if config.SessionBus != nil {
+						config.SessionBus.Log = true
+					}
+					if config.SystemBus != nil {
+						config.SystemBus.Log = true
+					}
 				}
 			}
 
diff --git a/test/test.py b/test/test.py
index 9625353..4240b8f 100644
--- a/test/test.py
+++ b/test/test.py
@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ silent_output_interrupt("--wayland -X --dbus --pulse ")
 print(machine.fail("sudo -u alice -i hakurei -v run --wayland true"))
 
 # Start hakurei permissive defaults within Wayland session:
-hakurei('-v run --wayland --dbus notify-send -a "NixOS Tests" "Test notification" "Notification from within sandbox." && touch /tmp/dbus-ok')
+hakurei('-v run --wayland --dbus --dbus-log notify-send -a "NixOS Tests" "Test notification" "Notification from within sandbox." && touch /tmp/dbus-ok')
 machine.wait_for_file("/tmp/dbus-ok", timeout=15)
 collect_state_ui("dbus_notify_exited")
 # not in pid namespace, verify termination