diff --git a/bin/appliance_console b/bin/appliance_console
index 4507178a..3d5685fc 100755
--- a/bin/appliance_console
+++ b/bin/appliance_console
@@ -119,7 +119,7 @@ module ApplianceConsole
         summary_entry("MAC Address", mac),
         summary_entry("Timezone", timezone),
         summary_entry("Local Database Server", PostgresAdmin.local_server_status),
-        summary_entry("#{I18n.t("product.name")} Server", evm_running ? "running" : "not running"),
+        summary_entry("#{I18n.t("product.name")} Server", evm_running ? "running" : "not running - #{ManageIQ::ApplianceConsole::EvmServer.not_runnable_reason}"),
         summary_entry("#{I18n.t("product.name")} Database", dbhost || "not configured"),
         summary_entry("Database/Region", database ? "#{database} / #{region.to_i}" : "not configured"),
         summary_entry("Messaging", messaging ? "configured" : "not configured"),
diff --git a/lib/manageiq/appliance_console/evm_server.rb b/lib/manageiq/appliance_console/evm_server.rb
index 04dba20f..8c7d3ac7 100644
--- a/lib/manageiq/appliance_console/evm_server.rb
+++ b/lib/manageiq/appliance_console/evm_server.rb
@@ -1,21 +1,26 @@
 module ManageIQ
   module ApplianceConsole
     class EvmServer
+      class NotRunnableError < RuntimeError; end
+
       class << self
         def running?
           service.running?
         end
 
         def start!(enable: false)
+          raise NotRunnableError, not_runnable_reason unless runnable?
+
           service.start(enable)
         end
 
         def start(enable: false)
           start!(:enable => enable)
-        rescue AwesomeSpawn::CommandResultError => e
+        rescue AwesomeSpawn::CommandResultError, NotRunnableError => e
           say e.result.output
           say e.result.error
           say ""
+          false
         end
 
         def stop
@@ -34,6 +39,21 @@ def disable
           service.disable
         end
 
+        def runnable?
+          DatabaseConfiguration.database_yml_configured? && MessageConfiguration.configured?
+        end
+
+        def not_runnable_reason
+          reason =
+            if DatabaseConfiguration.database_yml_configured?
+              _("A Database connection has not been configured.")
+            elsif MessageConfiguration.configured?
+              _("Messaging has not been configured.")
+            end
+
+          _("Cannot start %{product_name}: %{reason}") % {:product_name => I18n.t("product.name"), :reason => reason}
+        end
+
         private
 
         def service