diff --git a/server/src/main.rs b/server/src/main.rs
index 652f018c6..464b39307 100644
--- a/server/src/main.rs
+++ b/server/src/main.rs
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ async fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     env_logger::init();
     CONFIG.validate();
     let storage = CONFIG.storage().get_object_store();
+    CONFIG.validate_staging()?;
     CONFIG.validate_storage(&*storage).await;
     let metadata = storage::resolve_parseable_metadata().await?;
     banner::print(&CONFIG, metadata);
diff --git a/server/src/option.rs b/server/src/option.rs
index 3f4b4e2a0..0025517b8 100644
--- a/server/src/option.rs
+++ b/server/src/option.rs
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ use crate::storage::{
     FSConfig, ObjectStorage, ObjectStorageError, ObjectStorageProvider, S3Config,
     LOCAL_SYNC_INTERVAL,
 };
+use crate::utils::validate_path_is_writeable;
 
 lazy_static::lazy_static! {
     #[derive(Debug)]
@@ -112,6 +113,11 @@ impl Config {
         }
     }
 
+    pub fn validate_staging(&self) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+        let staging_path = self.staging_dir();
+        validate_path_is_writeable(staging_path)
+    }
+
     pub fn storage(&self) -> Arc<dyn ObjectStorageProvider + Send + Sync> {
         self.storage.clone()
     }
diff --git a/server/src/storage/localfs.rs b/server/src/storage/localfs.rs
index 20daa2c18..277db8601 100644
--- a/server/src/storage/localfs.rs
+++ b/server/src/storage/localfs.rs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ use relative_path::RelativePath;
 use tokio::fs;
 use tokio_stream::wrappers::ReadDirStream;
 
-use crate::{option::validation, query::Query};
+use crate::{option::validation, query::Query, utils::validate_path_is_writeable};
 
 use super::{LogStream, ObjectStorage, ObjectStorageError, ObjectStorageProvider};
 
@@ -117,7 +117,9 @@ impl ObjectStorage for LocalFS {
     }
 
     async fn check(&self) -> Result<(), ObjectStorageError> {
-        Ok(fs::create_dir_all(&self.root).await?)
+        fs::create_dir_all(&self.root).await?;
+        validate_path_is_writeable(&self.root)
+            .map_err(|e| ObjectStorageError::UnhandledError(e.into()))
     }
 
     async fn delete_stream(&self, stream_name: &str) -> Result<(), ObjectStorageError> {
diff --git a/server/src/utils.rs b/server/src/utils.rs
index 3636a8b09..bc5fe2fa7 100644
--- a/server/src/utils.rs
+++ b/server/src/utils.rs
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
  *
  */
 
+use std::path::Path;
+
 use chrono::{DateTime, NaiveDate, Timelike, Utc};
 use serde_json::{json, Value};
 
@@ -122,6 +124,15 @@ pub fn capitalize_ascii(s: &str) -> String {
     s[0..1].to_uppercase() + &s[1..]
 }
 
+pub fn validate_path_is_writeable(path: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
+    let Ok(md) = std::fs::metadata(path) else { anyhow::bail!("Could not read metadata for staging dir") };
+    let permissions = md.permissions();
+    if permissions.readonly() {
+        anyhow::bail!("Staging directory {} is unwritable", path.display())
+    }
+    Ok(())
+}
+
 pub mod uid {
     use ulid::Ulid;