diff --git a/modules/bindings/pymod/naccess.py b/modules/bindings/pymod/naccess.py
index fc98f23f03104f2f8b47dd0c741c2862a3b37b32..1612c503f9a83e0284e021384b82834aefba166c 100644
--- a/modules/bindings/pymod/naccess.py
+++ b/modules/bindings/pymod/naccess.py
@@ -50,7 +50,10 @@ def _SetupFiles(entity, selection, scratch_dir, max_number_of_atoms):
     tmp_dir_name = tempfile.mkdtemp()
 
   # select as specified by user
-  entity_view = entity.Select(selection)
+  if selection != "":
+    entity_view = entity.Select(selection)
+  else:
+    entity_view = entity
   if len(entity_view.atoms) > max_number_of_atoms:
     raise RuntimeError, "Too much atoms for NACCESS (> %s)" % max_number_of_atoms
   if not entity_view.IsValid():