diff --git a/base/VulkanTools.cpp b/base/VulkanTools.cpp
index 7fbb520b..ae6c034e 100644
--- a/base/VulkanTools.cpp
+++ b/base/VulkanTools.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ namespace vks
 {
 	namespace tools
 	{
+		bool errorModeSilent = false;
+
 		std::string errorString(VkResult errorCode)
 		{
 			switch (errorCode)
@@ -263,7 +265,7 @@ namespace vks
 		void exitFatal(std::string message, std::string caption, bool silent)
 		{
 #if defined(_WIN32)
-			if (!silent) {
+			if (!errorModeSilent) {
 				MessageBox(NULL, message.c_str(), caption.c_str(), MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);
 			}
 #elif defined(__ANDROID__)	
diff --git a/base/VulkanTools.h b/base/VulkanTools.h
index 510c8963..6076f813 100644
--- a/base/VulkanTools.h
+++ b/base/VulkanTools.h
@@ -69,6 +69,9 @@ namespace vks
 {
 	namespace tools
 	{
+		/** @brief Disable message boxes on fatal errors */
+		extern bool errorModeSilent;
+
 		/** @brief Returns an error code as a string */
 		std::string errorString(VkResult errorCode);
 
diff --git a/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp b/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp
index c3ff224c..e3cafede 100644
--- a/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp
+++ b/base/vulkanexamplebase.cpp
@@ -695,6 +695,7 @@ VulkanExampleBase::VulkanExampleBase(bool enableValidation)
 		// Benchmark
 		if ((args[i] == std::string("-b")) || (args[i] == std::string("--benchmark"))) {
 			benchmark.active = true;
+			vks::tools::errorModeSilent = true;
 		}
 		// Warmup time (in seconds)
 		if ((args[i] == std::string("-bw")) || (args[i] == std::string("--benchwarmup"))) {