diff --git a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common
index 57b86b1f4..0be5693ed 100755
--- a/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common
+++ b/salt/common/tools/sbin/so-common
@@ -276,8 +276,9 @@ get_elastic_agent_vars() {
 		ELASTIC_AGENT_FILE="/nsm/elastic-fleet/artifacts/elastic-agent_SO-$ELASTIC_AGENT_TARBALL_VERSION.tar.gz"
 		ELASTIC_AGENT_MD5="/nsm/elastic-fleet/artifacts/elastic-agent_SO-$ELASTIC_AGENT_TARBALL_VERSION.md5"
 		ELASTIC_AGENT_EXPANSION_DIR=/nsm/elastic-fleet/artifacts/beats/elastic-agent
+	else
+		fail "Could not find salt/elasticsearch/defaults.yaml"
 	fi
-
 }
 
 get_random_value() {