diff --git a/create-image.sh b/create-image.sh
index d14a88a..d3393fd 100755
--- a/create-image.sh
+++ b/create-image.sh
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 set -x
+
+if [[ "$(id -u)" -ne 0 ]]; then
+    >&2 echo "$0: please run this script as root"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 KICKSTART_BASE="Rocky"
 TODAY="$(TZ='UTC' date +%Y.%m.%d)"
 KICKSTART_FILE="${KICKSTART_BASE}.ks"