diff --git a/src/util.cpp b/src/util.cpp
index 6631c236f..1aa18c73b 100644
--- a/src/util.cpp
+++ b/src/util.cpp
@@ -639,6 +639,9 @@ void ArgsManager::ReadConfigFile(const std::string& confPath)
     }
     // If datadir is changed in .conf file:
     ClearDatadirCache();
+    if (!fs::is_directory(GetDataDir(false))) {
+        throw std::runtime_error(strprintf("specified data directory \"%s\" does not exist.", gArgs.GetArg("-datadir", "").c_str()));
+    }
 }
 
 #ifndef WIN32