diff --git a/libweston/weston-launch.c b/libweston/weston-launch.c
index aa7e0711..dcd31e1a 100644
--- a/libweston/weston-launch.c
+++ b/libweston/weston-launch.c
@@ -722,6 +722,9 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 	if ((argc - optind) > (MAX_ARGV_SIZE - 6))
 		error(1, E2BIG, "Too many arguments to pass to weston");
 
+	if (tty && !wl.new_user)
+		error(1, 0, "-t/--tty option requires -u/--user option as well");
+
 	if (wl.new_user)
 		wl.pw = getpwnam(wl.new_user);
 	else