diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index b3c040bd7..c4266f812 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # reticulate (development version)
 
+- `virtualenv_starter()` no longer warns when encountering broken symlinks (#1598).
+
 # reticulate 1.36.1
 
 - Fix issue where `py_to_r()` method for Pandas DataFrames would error 
diff --git a/R/virtualenv.R b/R/virtualenv.R
index dbf66c842..f50065f2a 100644
--- a/R/virtualenv.R
+++ b/R/virtualenv.R
@@ -533,8 +533,10 @@ virtualenv_starter <- function(version = NULL, all = FALSE) {
                suffix)
     }
 
-    p <- unique(normalizePath(Sys.glob(glob), winslash = "/"))
+    p <- unique(normalizePath(Sys.glob(glob), winslash = "/", mustWork = FALSE))
     p <- p[grep("^python[0-9.]*(\\.exe)?$", basename(p))]
+    p <- p[utils::file_test("-x", p)]
+    p <- p[utils::file_test("-f", p)]
     v <- numeric_version(vapply(p, function(python_path)
       tryCatch({
         v <- suppressWarnings(system2(