diff --git a/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c b/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
index acd95aa..b44fed0 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c
@@ -5216,6 +5216,14 @@ readRecoveryCommandFile(void)
 	}

 	FreeConfigVariables(head);
+
+	/*
+	 * We don't support standby_mode in standalone backends; that
+	 * requires other processes such as the WAL receiver to be alive.
+	 */
+	if (StandbyModeRequested && !IsUnderPostmaster)
+		ereport(FATAL,
+				(errmsg("standby mode is not supported for standalone backends")));
 }

 /*
diff --git a/src/test/recovery/t/001_stream_rep.pl b/src/test/recovery/t/001_stream_rep.pl
index fd71095..7b47301 100644
--- a/src/test/recovery/t/001_stream_rep.pl
+++ b/src/test/recovery/t/001_stream_rep.pl
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ use strict;
 use warnings;
 use PostgresNode;
 use TestLib;
-use Test::More tests => 4;
+use Test::More tests => 5;

 # Initialize master node
 my $node_master = get_new_node('master');
@@ -18,6 +18,11 @@ $node_master->backup($backup_name);
 my $node_standby_1 = get_new_node('standby_1');
 $node_standby_1->init_from_backup($node_master, $backup_name,
 	has_streaming => 1);
+
+# Standby mode not supported for standalone backends
+command_fails(['postgres', '--single', '-D', $node_standby_1->data_dir],
+			  'no standby mode support for standalone backends');
+
 $node_standby_1->start;

 # Take backup of standby 1 (not mandatory, but useful to check if