diff --git a/tripleo_common/image/image_uploader.py b/tripleo_common/image/image_uploader.py
index 4293dfbbf..6b58f04f4 100644
--- a/tripleo_common/image/image_uploader.py
+++ b/tripleo_common/image/image_uploader.py
@@ -846,8 +846,16 @@ class BaseImageUploader(object):
                            fallback_tag=None, username=None, password=None):
         image_url = self._image_to_url(image)
         self.is_insecure_registry(registry_host=image_url.netloc)
-        session = self.authenticate(
-            image_url, username=username, password=password)
+        try:
+            session = self.authenticate(
+                image_url, username=username, password=password)
+        except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
+            if e.response.status_code == 401:
+                raise ImageUploaderException(
+                    'Unable to authenticate. This may indicate '
+                    'missing registry credentials or the provided '
+                    'container or namespace does not exist. %s' % e)
+            raise
 
         i = self._inspect(image_url, session)
         return self._discover_tag_from_inspect(i, image, tag_from_label,
@@ -859,8 +867,16 @@ class BaseImageUploader(object):
         for image in images:
             url = self._image_to_url(image)
             self.is_insecure_registry(registry_host=url.netloc)
-            session = self.authenticate(
-                url, username=username, password=password)
+            try:
+                session = self.authenticate(
+                    url, username=username, password=password)
+            except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
+                if e.response.status_code == 401:
+                    raise ImageUploaderException(
+                        'Unable to authenticate. This may indicate '
+                        'missing registry credentials or the provided '
+                        'container or namespace does not exist. %s' % e)
+                raise
             image_labels = self._image_labels(
                 url, session=session)
             if set(labels).issubset(set(image_labels)):
@@ -1296,11 +1312,19 @@ class PythonImageUploader(BaseImageUploader):
 
         target_username, target_password = self.credentials_for_registry(
             t.target_image_url.netloc)
-        target_session = self.authenticate(
-            t.target_image_url,
-            username=target_username,
-            password=target_password
-        )
+        try:
+            target_session = self.authenticate(
+                t.target_image_url,
+                username=target_username,
+                password=target_password
+            )
+        except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
+            if e.response.status_code == 401:
+                raise ImageUploaderException(
+                    'Unable to authenticate. This may indicate '
+                    'missing registry credentials or the provided '
+                    'container or namespace does not exist. %s' % e)
+            raise
 
         try:
             self._detect_target_export(t.target_image_url, target_session)
@@ -1356,11 +1380,19 @@ class PythonImageUploader(BaseImageUploader):
 
         source_username, source_password = self.credentials_for_registry(
             t.source_image_url.netloc)
-        source_session = self.authenticate(
-            t.source_image_url,
-            username=source_username,
-            password=source_password
-        )
+        try:
+            source_session = self.authenticate(
+                t.source_image_url,
+                username=source_username,
+                password=source_password
+            )
+        except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
+            if e.response.status_code == 401:
+                raise ImageUploaderException(
+                    'Unable to authenticate. This may indicate '
+                    'missing registry credentials or the provided '
+                    'container or namespace does not exist. %s' % e)
+            raise
 
         source_layers = []
         manifests_str = []
@@ -2313,8 +2345,16 @@ def discover_tag_from_inspect(args):
     self, image, tag_from_label = args
     image_url = self._image_to_url(image)
     username, password = self.credentials_for_registry(image_url.netloc)
-    session = self.authenticate(
-        image_url, username=username, password=password)
+    try:
+        session = self.authenticate(
+            image_url, username=username, password=password)
+    except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
+        if e.response.status_code == 401:
+            raise ImageUploaderException(
+                'Unable to authenticate. This may indicate '
+                'missing registry credentials or the provided '
+                'container or namespace does not exist. %s' % e)
+        raise
     i = self._inspect(image_url, session=session)
     session.close()
     if ':' in image_url.path:
diff --git a/tripleo_common/tests/image/test_image_uploader.py b/tripleo_common/tests/image/test_image_uploader.py
index fc30f4d48..4f6b1fbc0 100644
--- a/tripleo_common/tests/image/test_image_uploader.py
+++ b/tripleo_common/tests/image/test_image_uploader.py
@@ -394,6 +394,25 @@ class TestBaseImageUploader(base.TestCase):
             'docker.io/t/foo:b',
             'rdo_version')
 
+        # handle auth issues
+        mock_401 = mock.Mock()
+        mock_401.status_code = 401
+        mock_401_except = requests.exceptions.HTTPError(response=mock_401)
+        mock_404 = mock.Mock()
+        mock_404.status_code = 404
+        mock_404_except = requests.exceptions.HTTPError(response=mock_404)
+        mock_auth.side_effect = [mock_401_except, mock_404_except]
+        self.assertRaises(
+            ImageUploaderException,
+            image_uploader.discover_tag_from_inspect,
+            (self.uploader, 'docker.io/t/foo', 'rdo_version')
+        )
+        self.assertRaises(
+            requests.exceptions.HTTPError,
+            image_uploader.discover_tag_from_inspect,
+            (self.uploader, 'docker.io/t/foo', 'rdo_version')
+        )
+
     @mock.patch('tripleo_common.image.image_uploader.'
                 'BaseImageUploader.authenticate')
     @mock.patch('tripleo_common.image.image_uploader.'
@@ -480,6 +499,25 @@ class TestBaseImageUploader(base.TestCase):
             (self.uploader, 'docker.io/t/foo', 'rdo_version')
         )
 
+        # handle auth issues
+        mock_401 = mock.Mock()
+        mock_401.status_code = 401
+        mock_401_except = requests.exceptions.HTTPError(response=mock_401)
+        mock_404 = mock.Mock()
+        mock_404.status_code = 404
+        mock_404_except = requests.exceptions.HTTPError(response=mock_404)
+        mock_auth.side_effect = [mock_401_except, mock_404_except]
+        self.assertRaises(
+            ImageUploaderException,
+            image_uploader.discover_tag_from_inspect,
+            (self.uploader, 'docker.io/t/foo', 'rdo_version')
+        )
+        self.assertRaises(
+            requests.exceptions.HTTPError,
+            image_uploader.discover_tag_from_inspect,
+            (self.uploader, 'docker.io/t/foo', 'rdo_version')
+        )
+
     @mock.patch('concurrent.futures.ThreadPoolExecutor')
     def test_discover_image_tags(self, mock_pool):
         mock_map = mock.Mock()