diff --git a/lib/vagrant/errors.rb b/lib/vagrant/errors.rb
index 1377464bb..dc24536d3 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/errors.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/errors.rb
@@ -163,6 +163,14 @@ module Vagrant
       error_key(:cli_invalid_options)
     end
 
+    class CommandUnavailable < VagrantError
+      error_key(:command_unavailable)
+    end
+
+    class CommandUnavailableWindows < VagrantError
+      error_key(:command_unavailable_windows)
+    end
+
     class ConfigInvalid < VagrantError
       error_key(:config_invalid)
     end
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/util/subprocess.rb b/lib/vagrant/util/subprocess.rb
index 4379304b8..c9be8eafe 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/util/subprocess.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/util/subprocess.rb
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ require 'log4r'
 
 require 'vagrant/util/platform'
 require 'vagrant/util/safe_chdir'
+require 'vagrant/util/which'
 
 module Vagrant
   module Util
@@ -26,6 +27,11 @@ module Vagrant
       def initialize(*command)
         @options = command.last.is_a?(Hash) ? command.pop : {}
         @command = command
+        @command[0] = Which.which(@command[0]) unless File.exists? @command[0]
+        unless @command[0]
+          raise Errors::CommandUnavailableWindows if Platform.windows?
+          raise Errors::CommandUnavailable
+        end
         @logger  = Log4r::Logger.new("vagrant::util::subprocess")
       end
 
diff --git a/templates/locales/en.yml b/templates/locales/en.yml
index 43f7ce41b..06979f7b7 100644
--- a/templates/locales/en.yml
+++ b/templates/locales/en.yml
@@ -167,6 +167,8 @@ en:
         available below.
 
         %{help}
+      command_unavailable: "command binary could not be found. Is this application installed?"
+      command_unavailable_windows: "command executable not found in any directories in the %PATH% variable."
       config_invalid: |-
         There are errors in the configuration of this machine. Please fix
         the following errors and try again: