diff --git a/src/yunohost/utils/ldap.py b/src/yunohost/utils/ldap.py
index 22e95ad07..b7111a6cd 100644
--- a/src/yunohost/utils/ldap.py
+++ b/src/yunohost/utils/ldap.py
@@ -19,8 +19,10 @@
 
 """
 
+import os
 import atexit
 from moulinette.authenticators import ldap
+from yunohost.utils.error import YunohostError
 
 # We use a global variable to do some caching
 # to avoid re-authenticating in case we call _get_ldap_authenticator multiple times
@@ -32,6 +34,8 @@ def _get_ldap_interface():
 
     if _ldap_interface is None:
 
+        assert_slapd_is_running()
+
         conf = { "vendor": "ldap",
                  "name": "as-root",
                  "parameters": { 'uri': 'ldapi://%2Fvar%2Frun%2Fslapd%2Fldapi',
@@ -45,6 +49,13 @@ def _get_ldap_interface():
     return _ldap_interface
 
 
+def assert_slapd_is_running():
+
+    # Assert slapd is running...
+    if not os.system("pgrep slapd >dev/null") == 0:
+        raise YunohostError("Service slapd is not running but is required to perform this action ... You can try to investigate what's happening with 'systemctl status slapd'")
+
+
 # We regularly want to extract stuff like 'bar' in ldap path like
 # foo=bar,dn=users.example.org,ou=example.org,dc=org so this small helper allow
 # to do this without relying of dozens of mysterious string.split()[0]