diff --git a/plugins/mythtv/mythtv_status_ b/plugins/mythtv/mythtv_status_
index 91f464f8..ca2f1774 100755
--- a/plugins/mythtv/mythtv_status_
+++ b/plugins/mythtv/mythtv_status_
@@ -71,7 +71,8 @@
 #%# family=auto
 #%# capabilities=autoconf
 use DBI;
-use MythTV;
+eval 'use MythTV; 1;'
+    or die 'Please install MythTV';
 use strict;
 use warnings;
 use Munin::Plugin;
diff --git a/plugins/system/raminfo b/plugins/system/raminfo
index 64838178..9b4360a8 100755
--- a/plugins/system/raminfo
+++ b/plugins/system/raminfo
@@ -73,7 +73,8 @@ else
 sub value # get value for variables
 {
 	my %h_ramvalues;
-	use Sun::Solaris::Kstat;
+	eval 'use Sun::Solaris::Kstat; 1;'
+            or die 'Please install Sun::Solaros::Kstat';
 	my $Kstat = Sun::Solaris::Kstat->new();
 
 	# --- Fetch Hardware info ---
diff --git a/plugins/system/swapspace-info b/plugins/system/swapspace-info
index 91cc3a28..afa6e6cd 100755
--- a/plugins/system/swapspace-info
+++ b/plugins/system/swapspace-info
@@ -71,7 +71,8 @@ else
 sub value
 {
 	my %h_swapvalue;
-	use Sun::Solaris::Kstat;
+	eval 'use Sun::Solaris::Kstat; 1;'
+            or die 'Please install Sun::Solaris::Kstat';
 	my $Kstat = Sun::Solaris::Kstat->new();
 
 	# --- Fetch Hardware info ---
diff --git a/plugins/virtualization/vmware/esx_ b/plugins/virtualization/vmware/esx_
index 003eac27..01577285 100755
--- a/plugins/virtualization/vmware/esx_
+++ b/plugins/virtualization/vmware/esx_
@@ -115,9 +115,14 @@ use strict;
 use sort 'stable'; # guarantee stability
 no warnings; # don't want warnings in output
 
-use VMware::VIRuntime; # need to install VIM SDK (vSphere CLI/SDK 4.1 or newer)
-use VMware::VILib;
-use VMware::VIExt;
+# need to install VIM SDK (vSphere CLI/SDK 4.1 or newer)
+eval 'use VMware::VIRuntime; 1;'
+    or die 'Please install vSphere SDK for VMware::* modules';
+eval 'use VMware::VILib; 1;'
+    or die 'Please install vSphere SDK for VMware::* modules';
+eval 'use VMware::VIExt; 1;'
+    or die 'Please install vsphere SDK for VMware::* modules';
+
 use Data::Dumper;
 use DateTime::Format::ISO8601; # may need to install "libdatetime-format-iso8601-perl" on Debian-based systems
 use List::Util qw(sum max);