diff --git a/cmd/serv.go b/cmd/serv.go
index 5c3d512a37..9063a1c2c9 100644
--- a/cmd/serv.go
+++ b/cmd/serv.go
@@ -297,6 +297,15 @@ func runServ(c *cli.Context) error {
 		gitcmd = exec.CommandContext(ctx, verb, repoPath)
 	}
 
+	// Check if setting.RepoRootPath exists. It could be the case that it doesn't exist, this can happen when
+	// `[repository]` `ROOT` is a relative path and $GITEA_WORK_DIR isn't passed to the SSH connection.
+	if _, err := os.Stat(setting.RepoRootPath); err != nil {
+		if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+			return fail("Incorrect configuration.",
+				"Directory `[repository]` `ROOT` was not found, please check if $GITEA_WORK_DIR is passed to the SSH connection or make `[repository]` `ROOT` an absolute value.")
+		}
+	}
+
 	gitcmd.Dir = setting.RepoRootPath
 	gitcmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
 	gitcmd.Stdin = os.Stdin