diff --git a/lib/vagrant/provisioners/puppet.rb b/lib/vagrant/provisioners/puppet.rb
index 82b7d9ad0..2142c5678 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/provisioners/puppet.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/provisioners/puppet.rb
@@ -86,6 +86,15 @@ module Vagrant
       end
 
       def provision!
+        # Check that the shared folders are properly shared
+        check = [manifests_guest_path]
+        @module_paths.each do |host_path, guest_path|
+          check << guest_path
+        end
+
+        verify_shared_folders(check)
+
+        # Verify Puppet is installed and run it
         verify_binary("puppet")
         run_puppet_client
       end
@@ -141,6 +150,15 @@ module Vagrant
           env[:ui].info(data.chomp, :color => color, :prefix => false)
         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 PuppetError, :missing_shared_folders
+          end
+        end
+      end
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/templates/locales/en.yml b/templates/locales/en.yml
index 3d16d6c6d..636feb57c 100644
--- a/templates/locales/en.yml
+++ b/templates/locales/en.yml
@@ -598,6 +598,11 @@ en:
         running_puppet: "Running Puppet with %{manifest}..."
         manifest_missing: "The Puppet %{manifest} manifest is missing. You cannot configure this box."
         manifests_path_missing: "The manifests path specified for Puppet does not exist: %{path}"
+        missing_shared_folders: |-
+          Shared folders that Puppet 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.
         module_path_missing: "The configured module path doesn't exist: %{path}"
 
       puppet_server: