diff --git a/app/Checks.php b/app/Checks.php
index d1af6fa5a7..7ebf79cc7c 100644
--- a/app/Checks.php
+++ b/app/Checks.php
@@ -31,8 +31,6 @@ use Auth;
 use Cache;
 use Carbon\Carbon;
 use LibreNMS\Config;
-use LibreNMS\Exceptions\FilePermissionsException;
-use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response as SymfonyResponse;
 use Toastr;
 
 class Checks
@@ -122,6 +120,14 @@ class Checks
     public static function runningUser()
     {
         if (function_exists('posix_getpwuid') && posix_getpwuid(posix_geteuid())['name'] !== get_current_user()) {
+            if (get_current_user() == 'root') {
+                self::printMessage(
+                    'Error: lnms file is owned by root, it should be owned and ran by a non-privileged user.',
+                    null,
+                    true
+                );
+            }
+
             self::printMessage(
                 'Error: You must run lnms as the user ' . get_current_user(),
                 null,