diff --git a/.github/workflows/s3-external.yml b/.github/workflows/s3-external.yml
index dedab6b0c16fb..a1d4dcbda22d4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/s3-external.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/s3-external.yml
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ jobs:
           php -S localhost:8080 &
       - name: PHPUnit
         run: |
-          echo "<?php return ['run' => true,'hostname' => 'localhost','key' => 'minio','secret' => 'minio123', 'bucket' => 'bucket', 'port' => 9000, 'use_ssl' => false, 'autocreate' => true, 'use_path_style' => true];" > apps/${{ env.APP_NAME }}/tests/config.amazons3.php
+          echo "<?php return ['run' => true, 'secret' => 'actually-not-secret', 'hostname' => 'localhost','key' => 'minio','secret' => 'minio123', 'bucket' => 'bucket', 'port' => 9000, 'use_ssl' => false, 'autocreate' => true, 'use_path_style' => true];" > apps/${{ env.APP_NAME }}/tests/config.amazons3.php
           phpunit --configuration tests/phpunit-autotest-external.xml apps/files_external/tests/Storage/Amazons3Test.php
           phpunit --configuration tests/phpunit-autotest-external.xml apps/files_external/tests/Storage/VersionedAmazonS3Test.php
       - name: S3 logs
diff --git a/lib/private/legacy/OC_Util.php b/lib/private/legacy/OC_Util.php
index 9110678537f07..5441d3a2864ed 100644
--- a/lib/private/legacy/OC_Util.php
+++ b/lib/private/legacy/OC_Util.php
@@ -969,6 +969,13 @@ public static function checkServer(\OC\SystemConfig $config) {
 			];
 		}
 
+		if ($config->getValue('secret', '') === '' && !\OC::$CLI) {
+			$errors[] = [
+				'error' => $l->t('The required \'secret\' config variable is not configued in the config.php file.'),
+				'hint' => $l->t('Please ask your server administrator to check the Nextcloud configuration.')
+			];
+		}
+
 		$errors = array_merge($errors, self::checkDatabaseVersion());
 
 		// Cache the result of this function
diff --git a/tests/travis/install.sh b/tests/travis/install.sh
index 180e0c634da4f..c0c850fe56938 100755
--- a/tests/travis/install.sh
+++ b/tests/travis/install.sh
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ echo "Using database $DATABASENAME"
 cat > ./tests/autoconfig-sqlite.php <<DELIM
 <?php
 \$AUTOCONFIG = array (
+  'secret' => 'actually-not-secret',
   'installed' => false,
   'dbtype' => 'sqlite',
   'dbtableprefix' => 'oc_',
@@ -56,6 +57,7 @@ DELIM
 cat > ./tests/autoconfig-mysql.php <<DELIM
 <?php
 \$AUTOCONFIG = array (
+  'secret' => 'actually-not-secret',
   'installed' => false,
   'dbtype' => 'mysql',
   'dbtableprefix' => 'oc_',
@@ -72,6 +74,7 @@ DELIM
 cat > ./tests/autoconfig-pgsql.php <<DELIM
 <?php
 \$AUTOCONFIG = array (
+  'secret' => 'actually-not-secret',
   'installed' => false,
   'dbtype' => 'pgsql',
   'dbtableprefix' => 'oc_',
@@ -88,6 +91,7 @@ DELIM
 cat > ./tests/autoconfig-oracle.php <<DELIM
 <?php
 \$AUTOCONFIG = array (
+  'secret' => 'actually-not-secret',
   'installed' => false,
   'dbtype' => 'oci',
   'dbtableprefix' => 'oc_',