diff --git a/IPython/parallel/client/client.py b/IPython/parallel/client/client.py
index 4d93d84..167a8b1 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/client/client.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/client/client.py
@@ -306,9 +306,7 @@ class Client(HasTraits):
         assert url_or_file is not None, "I can't find enough information to connect to a hub!"\
             " Please specify at least one of url_or_file or profile."
 
-        try:
-            util.validate_url(url_or_file)
-        except AssertionError:
+	if not is_url(url_or_file):
             if not os.path.exists(url_or_file):
                 if self._cd:
                     url_or_file = os.path.join(self._cd.security_dir, url_or_file)
diff --git a/IPython/parallel/util.py b/IPython/parallel/util.py
index b9a5153..222b49d 100644
--- a/IPython/parallel/util.py
+++ b/IPython/parallel/util.py
@@ -108,6 +108,15 @@ def asbytes(s):
         s = s.encode('ascii')
     return s
 
+def is_url(url):
+    """boolean check for whether a string is a zmq url"""
+    if '://' not in url:
+        return False
+    proto, addr = url.split('://', 1)
+    if proto.lower() not in ['tcp','pgm','epgm','ipc','inproc']:
+        return False
+    return True
+
 def validate_url(url):
     """validate a url for zeromq"""
     if not isinstance(url, basestring):