diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 04556634a..7c337165b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@
     `sudo` installed Vagrant installations work. [GH-580]
   - Provisioner stdout/stderr is now color coded based on stdout/stderr.
     stdout is green, stderr is red. [GH-595]
+  - Chef solo now prompts users to run a `reload` if shared folders
+    are not found on the VM. [GH-253]
   - "--no-provision" once again works for certain commands. [GH-591]
   - Resuming a VM from a saved state will show an error message if there
     would be port collisions. [GH-602]
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/action/vm/provision.rb b/lib/vagrant/action/vm/provision.rb
index 2667d612f..f5ed82f9b 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/action/vm/provision.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/action/vm/provision.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ module Vagrant
         def initialize(app, env)
           @logger = Log4r::Logger.new("vagrant::action::vm::provision")
           @app = app
-          @env["provision.enabled"] = true if !env.has_key?("provision.enabled")
+
+          env["provision.enabled"] = true if !env.has_key?("provision.enabled")
         end
 
         def call(env)
diff --git a/lib/vagrant/provisioners/chef_solo.rb b/lib/vagrant/provisioners/chef_solo.rb
index ffb7d4e1b..4c38c1e8f 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/provisioners/chef_solo.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/provisioners/chef_solo.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+require "log4r"
+
 require 'vagrant/provisioners/chef'
 
 module Vagrant
@@ -39,6 +41,11 @@ module Vagrant
         Config
       end
 
+      def initialize(env, config)
+        super
+        @logger = Log4r::Logger.new("vagrant::provisioners::chef_solo")
+      end
+
       def prepare
         @cookbook_folders = expanded_folders(config.cookbooks_path, "cookbooks")
         @role_folders = expanded_folders(config.roles_path, "roles")
@@ -50,6 +57,19 @@ module Vagrant
       end
 
       def provision!
+        # Verify that the proper shared folders exist.
+        check = []
+        [@cookbook_folders, @role_folders, @data_bags_folders].each do |folders|
+          folders.each do |type, local_path, remote_path|
+            # We only care about checking folders that have a local path, meaning
+            # they were shared from the local machine, rather than assumed to
+            # exist on the VM.
+            check << remote_path if local_path
+          end
+        end
+
+        verify_shared_folders(check)
+
         verify_binary(chef_binary_path("chef-solo"))
         chown_provisioning_folder
         setup_json
@@ -138,6 +158,17 @@ module Vagrant
         end
       end
 
+      def verify_shared_folders(folders)
+        folders.each do |folder|
+          @logger.debug("Checking for shared folder: #{folder}")
+          if !env[:vm].channel.test("test -d #{folder}")
+            raise ChefError, :missing_shared_folders
+          end
+        end
+      end
+
+      protected
+
       # Extracts only the remote paths from a list of folders
       def guest_paths(folders)
         folders.map { |parts| parts[2] }
diff --git a/templates/locales/en.yml b/templates/locales/en.yml
index 93d0d0675..3d16d6c6d 100644
--- a/templates/locales/en.yml
+++ b/templates/locales/en.yml
@@ -564,7 +564,14 @@ en:
         upload_encrypted_data_bag_secret_key: "Uploading chef encrypted data bag secret key..."
         running_client: "Running chef-client..."
         running_solo: "Running chef-solo..."
-        invalid_provisioner: "Vagrant::Provisioners::Chef is not a valid provisioner! Use ChefSolo or ChefClient instead."
+        invalid_provisioner: |-
+          Vagrant::Provisioners::Chef is not a valid provisioner! Use
+          ChefSolo or ChefClient instead.
+        missing_shared_folders: |-
+          Shared folders that Chef requires are missing on the virtual machine.
+          This is usually due to configuration changing after already booting the
+          machine. The fix is to run a `vagrant reload` so that the proper shared
+          folders will prepared and mounted on the VM.
         not_detected: |-
           The `%{binary}` binary appears to not be in the PATH of the guest. This
           could be because the PATH is not properly setup or perhaps chef is not