diff --git a/lib/common.php b/lib/common.php
index e29456ed4e..667826f395 100644
--- a/lib/common.php
+++ b/lib/common.php
@@ -185,7 +185,14 @@ function _have_config()
 }
 
 // XXX: Throw a conniption if database not installed
-
+// XXX: Find a way to use htmlwriter for this instead of handcoded markup
+if (!_have_config()) {
+  echo '<p>'. _('No configuation file found. ') .'</p>';
+  echo '<p>'. _('I looked for configuration files in the following places: ') .'<br/> '. implode($_config_files, '<br/>');
+  echo '<p>'. _('You make wish run the installer to fix this.') .'</p>';
+  echo '<a href="install.php">'. _('Go to the installer.') .'</a>';
+  exit;
+}
 // Fixup for statusnet.ini
 
 $_db_name = substr($config['db']['database'], strrpos($config['db']['database'], '/') + 1);