diff --git a/invokeai/backend/model_manager/load/model_loaders/flux.py b/invokeai/backend/model_manager/load/model_loaders/flux.py
index e37b12c4f7..58b4843395 100644
--- a/invokeai/backend/model_manager/load/model_loaders/flux.py
+++ b/invokeai/backend/model_manager/load/model_loaders/flux.py
@@ -33,10 +33,16 @@ from invokeai.backend.model_manager.config import (
 )
 from invokeai.backend.model_manager.load.load_default import ModelLoader
 from invokeai.backend.model_manager.load.model_loader_registry import ModelLoaderRegistry
-from invokeai.backend.quantization.bnb_nf4 import quantize_model_nf4
 from invokeai.backend.quantization.fast_quantized_transformers_model import FastQuantizedTransformersModel
 from invokeai.backend.util.silence_warnings import SilenceWarnings
 
+try:
+    from invokeai.backend.quantization.bnb_nf4 import quantize_model_nf4
+
+    bnb_nf4_available = True
+except ImportError:
+    bnb_nf4_available = False
+
 app_config = get_config()
 
 
@@ -213,6 +219,10 @@ class FluxBnbQuantizednf4bCheckpointModel(ModelLoader):
         flux_conf: Any,
     ) -> AnyModel:
         assert isinstance(config, MainBnbQuantized4bCheckpointConfig)
+        if not bnb_nf4_available:
+            raise ImportError(
+                "The bnb_nf4 module is not available. Please install bitsandbytes if available on your platform."
+            )
         model_path = Path(config.path)
         dataclass_fields = {f.name for f in fields(FluxParams)}
         filtered_data = {k: v for k, v in flux_conf["params"].items() if k in dataclass_fields}