diff --git a/nano/core_test/block_store.cpp b/nano/core_test/block_store.cpp
index 573f412eb4..8740eef667 100644
--- a/nano/core_test/block_store.cpp
+++ b/nano/core_test/block_store.cpp
@@ -674,8 +674,15 @@ TEST (mdb_block_store, bad_path)
 		GTEST_SKIP ();
 	}
 	nano::logger_mt logger;
-	nano::store::lmdb::component store (logger, boost::filesystem::path ("///"), nano::dev::constants);
-	ASSERT_TRUE (store.init_error ());
+	try
+	{
+		nano::store::lmdb::component store (logger, boost::filesystem::path ("///"), nano::dev::constants);
+	}
+	catch (std::runtime_error &)
+	{
+		return;
+	}
+	ASSERT_TRUE (false);
 }
 
 TEST (block_store, DISABLED_already_open) // File can be shared
diff --git a/nano/store/lmdb/lmdb_env.cpp b/nano/store/lmdb/lmdb_env.cpp
index b34289e7f1..6478ace99a 100644
--- a/nano/store/lmdb/lmdb_env.cpp
+++ b/nano/store/lmdb/lmdb_env.cpp
@@ -54,13 +54,8 @@ void nano::store::lmdb::env::init (bool & error_a, boost::filesystem::path const
 			auto status4 (mdb_env_open (environment, path_a.string ().c_str (), environment_flags, 00600));
 			if (status4 != 0)
 			{
-				std::cerr << "Could not open lmdb environment: " << status4;
-				char * error_str (mdb_strerror (status4));
-				if (error_str)
-				{
-					std::cerr << ", " << error_str;
-				}
-				std::cerr << std::endl;
+				std::string message = "Could not open lmdb environment(" + std::to_string (status4) + "): " + mdb_strerror (status4);
+				throw std::runtime_error (message);
 			}
 			release_assert (status4 == 0);
 			error_a = status4 != 0;