diff --git a/lib/foreman/export/inittab.rb b/lib/foreman/export/inittab.rb
index 446d009..ec18380 100644
--- a/lib/foreman/export/inittab.rb
+++ b/lib/foreman/export/inittab.rb
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ class Foreman::Export::Inittab < Foreman::Export::Base
     inittab = inittab.join("\n") + "\n"
 
     if fname
-      FileUtils.mkdir_p(log_root)
-      FileUtils.chown(user, nil, log_root)
+      FileUtils.mkdir_p(log_root) rescue error "could not create #{log_root}"
+      FileUtils.chown(user, nil, log_root) rescue error "could not chown #{log_root} to #{user}"
       write_file(fname, inittab)
     else
       puts inittab