diff --git a/cmd/envd/up.go b/cmd/envd/up.go
index 8f333d7b7..204f57ed6 100644
--- a/cmd/envd/up.go
+++ b/cmd/envd/up.go
@@ -146,6 +146,16 @@ func up(clicontext *cli.Context) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	if gpu {
+		nvruntimeExists, err := dockerClient.GPUEnabled(clicontext.Context)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if !nvruntimeExists {
+			return errors.New("GPU is required but nvidia container runtime is not installed, please refer to https://docs.nvidia.com/datacenter/cloud-native/container-toolkit/install-guide.html#docker")
+		}
+	}
+
 	containerID, containerIP, err := dockerClient.StartEnvd(clicontext.Context,
 		tag, ctr, buildContext, gpu, *ir.DefaultGraph, clicontext.Duration("timeout"),
 		clicontext.StringSlice("volume"))
diff --git a/pkg/docker/docker.go b/pkg/docker/docker.go
index f75accf8e..ceca9ee94 100644
--- a/pkg/docker/docker.go
+++ b/pkg/docker/docker.go
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@ type Client interface {
 	Exec(ctx context.Context, cname string, cmd []string) error
 	Destroy(ctx context.Context, name string) error
 	List(ctx context.Context) ([]types.Container, error)
+	// GPUEnabled returns true if nvidia container runtime exists in docker daemon.
+	GPUEnabled(ctx context.Context) (bool, error)
 }
 
 type generalClient struct {
@@ -70,6 +72,18 @@ func NewClient(ctx context.Context) (Client, error) {
 	return generalClient{cli}, nil
 }
 
+func (g generalClient) GPUEnabled(ctx context.Context) (bool, error) {
+	info, err := g.Info(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return false, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to get docker info")
+	}
+	logrus.WithField("info", info).Debug("docker info")
+	if nv, ok := info.Runtimes["nvidia"]; ok {
+		return nv.Path != "", nil
+	}
+	return false, nil
+}
+
 func (g generalClient) WaitUntilRunning(ctx context.Context,
 	name string, timeout time.Duration) error {
 	logger := logrus.WithField("container", name)