diff --git a/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c b/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c
index 0aa346a66c..a36dabc08d 100644
--- a/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c
+++ b/ompi/runtime/ompi_mpi_init.c
@@ -990,7 +990,7 @@ int ompi_mpi_init(int argc, char **argv, int requested, int *provided)
  error:
     if (ret != OMPI_SUCCESS) {
         /* Only print a message if one was not already printed */
-        if (NULL != error) {
+        if (NULL != error && OMPI_ERR_SILENT != ret) {
             const char *err_msg = opal_strerror(ret);
             opal_show_help("help-mpi-runtime.txt",
                            "mpi_init:startup:internal-failure", true,
diff --git a/orte/mca/ess/base/help-ess-base.txt b/orte/mca/ess/base/help-ess-base.txt
index ba33cb2d16..0d4907b565 100644
--- a/orte/mca/ess/base/help-ess-base.txt
+++ b/orte/mca/ess/base/help-ess-base.txt
@@ -49,3 +49,43 @@ MCA parameter:
   param:  %s
 
 This is not a recognized signal value. Please fix or remove it.
+#
+[slurm-error]
+The application appears to have been direct launched using "srun",
+but OMPI was not built with SLURM's PMI support and therefore cannot
+execute. There are several options for building PMI support under
+SLURM, depending upon the SLURM version you are using:
+
+  version 16.05 or later: you can use SLURM's PMIx support. This
+  requires that you configure and build SLURM --with-pmix.
+
+  Versions earlier than 16.05: you must use either SLURM's PMI-1 or
+  PMI-2 support. SLURM builds PMI-1 by default, or you can manually
+  install PMI-2. You must then build Open MPI using --with-pmi pointing
+  to the SLURM PMI library location.
+
+Please configure as appropriate and try again.
+#
+[slurm-error2]
+The application appears to have been direct launched using "srun",
+but OMPI was not built with SLURM support. This usually happens
+when OMPI was not configured --with-slurm and we weren't able
+to discover a SLURM installation in the usual places.
+
+Please configure as appropriate and try again.
+#
+[alps-error]
+The application appears to have been direct launched using "aprun",
+but OMPI was not built with ALPS PMI support and therefore cannot
+execute. You must build Open MPI using --with-pmi pointing
+to the ALPS PMI library location.
+
+Please configure as appropriate and try again.
+#
+[alps-error2]
+The application appears to have been direct launched using "aprun",
+but OMPI was not built with ALPS support. This usually happens
+when OMPI was not configured --with-alps and we weren't able
+to discover an ALPS installation in the usual places.
+
+Please configure as appropriate and try again.
diff --git a/orte/mca/ess/pmi/ess_pmi_module.c b/orte/mca/ess/pmi/ess_pmi_module.c
index 4ad414236a..2d852f820a 100644
--- a/orte/mca/ess/pmi/ess_pmi_module.c
+++ b/orte/mca/ess/pmi/ess_pmi_module.c
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
 #include "orte/mca/errmgr/errmgr.h"
 #include "orte/mca/grpcomm/grpcomm.h"
 #include "orte/mca/rml/rml.h"
+#include "orte/mca/schizo/schizo.h"
 #include "orte/util/proc_info.h"
 #include "orte/util/show_help.h"
 #include "orte/util/name_fns.h"
@@ -125,7 +126,24 @@ static int rte_init(void)
     opal_pmix_base_set_evbase(orte_event_base);
     /* initialize the selected module */
     if (!opal_pmix.initialized() && (OPAL_SUCCESS != (ret = opal_pmix.init(NULL)))) {
-        /* we cannot run */
+        /* we cannot run - this could be due to being direct launched
+         * without the required PMI support being built. Try to detect
+         * that scenario and warn the user */
+        if (ORTE_SCHIZO_DIRECT_LAUNCHED == orte_schizo.check_launch_environment() &&
+            NULL != (envar = getenv("ORTE_SCHIZO_DETECTION"))) {
+            if (0 == strcmp(envar, "SLURM")) {
+                /* yes to both - so emit a hopefully helpful
+                 * error message and abort */
+                orte_show_help_finalize();
+                orte_show_help("help-ess-base.txt", "slurm-error", true);
+                return ORTE_ERR_SILENT;
+            } else if (0 == strcmp(envar, "ALPS")) {
+                /* we were direct launched by ALPS */
+                orte_show_help_finalize();
+                orte_show_help("help-ess-base.txt", "alps-error", true);
+                return ORTE_ERR_SILENT;
+            }
+        }
         error = "pmix init";
         goto error;
     }
diff --git a/orte/mca/ess/singleton/ess_singleton_component.c b/orte/mca/ess/singleton/ess_singleton_component.c
index f457d4109f..9730910357 100644
--- a/orte/mca/ess/singleton/ess_singleton_component.c
+++ b/orte/mca/ess/singleton/ess_singleton_component.c
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
  *                         All rights reserved.
  * Copyright (c) 2015      Los Alamos National Security, LLC. All rights
  *                         reserved.
- * Copyright (c) 2016      Intel, Inc. All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2016-2017 Intel, Inc. All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 #include "opal/mca/pmix/base/base.h"
 
 #include "orte/util/proc_info.h"
+#include "orte/util/show_help.h"
 #include "orte/mca/schizo/schizo.h"
 
 #include "orte/mca/ess/ess.h"
@@ -131,6 +132,32 @@ static int component_query(mca_base_module_t **module, int *priority)
         return ORTE_ERROR;
     }
 
+    /* we may be incorrectly trying to run as a singleton - e.g.,
+     * someone direct-launched us under SLURM without building
+     * ORTE --with-slurm or in a slurm environment (so we didn't
+     * autodetect slurm). Try to detect that here. Sadly, we
+     * cannot just use the schizo framework to help us here as
+     * the corresponding schizo component may not have even
+     * been build. So we have to do things a little uglier */
+
+    if (ORTE_SCHIZO_UNMANAGED_SINGLETON == ret) {
+        /* see if we are in a SLURM allocation */
+        if (NULL != getenv("SLURM_NODELIST")) {
+            /* emit a hopefully helpful error message and abort */
+            orte_show_help("help-ess-base.txt", "slurm-error2", true);
+            *module = NULL;
+            *priority = 0;
+            return ORTE_ERR_SILENT;
+        }
+        /* see if we are under ALPS */
+        if (NULL != getenv("ALPS_APP_ID")) {
+            orte_show_help("help-ess-base.txt", "alps-error2", true);
+            *module = NULL;
+            *priority = 0;
+            return ORTE_ERR_SILENT;
+        }
+    }
+
     /* okay, we want to be selected as we must be a singleton */
     *priority = 100;
     *module = (mca_base_module_t *)&orte_ess_singleton_module;
@@ -142,4 +169,3 @@ static int component_close(void)
 {
     return ORTE_SUCCESS;
 }
-
diff --git a/orte/mca/schizo/alps/schizo_alps.c b/orte/mca/schizo/alps/schizo_alps.c
index c1e65c4569..4c7db47092 100644
--- a/orte/mca/schizo/alps/schizo_alps.c
+++ b/orte/mca/schizo/alps/schizo_alps.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2016      Intel, Inc.  All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2016-2017 Intel, Inc. All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -65,9 +65,16 @@ static orte_schizo_launch_environ_t check_launch_environment(void)
          * launch performance penalty for hwloc at high ppn on knl */
         opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_envs, OPAL_MCA_PREFIX "orte_bound_at_launch");
         opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_vals, "true");
+        /* mark that we are native */
+        opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_envs, "ORTE_SCHIZO_DETECTION");
+        opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_vals, "NATIVE");
         goto setup;
     }
 
+    /* mark that we are on ALPS */
+    opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_envs, "ORTE_SCHIZO_DETECTION");
+    opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_vals, "ALPS");
+
     /* see if we are running in a Cray PAGG container */
     fd = fopen(proc_job_file, "r");
     if (NULL == fd) {
diff --git a/orte/mca/schizo/orte/schizo_orte.c b/orte/mca/schizo/orte/schizo_orte.c
index b3783fe8fb..d5f31f33db 100644
--- a/orte/mca/schizo/orte/schizo_orte.c
+++ b/orte/mca/schizo/orte/schizo_orte.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (c) 2016      Intel, Inc.  All rights reserved.
+ * Copyright (c) 2016-2017 Intel, Inc. All rights reserved.
  * $COPYRIGHT$
  *
  * Additional copyrights may follow
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ static orte_schizo_launch_environ_t check_launch_environment(void)
      * so no need to further check that here. Instead,
      * see if we were direct launched vs launched via mpirun */
     if (NULL != orte_process_info.my_daemon_uri) {
-        /* nope */
+        /* yes we were */
         myenv = ORTE_SCHIZO_NATIVE_LAUNCHED;
         opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_envs, OPAL_MCA_PREFIX"ess");
         opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_vals, "pmi");
@@ -65,6 +65,10 @@ static orte_schizo_launch_environ_t check_launch_environment(void)
     myenv = ORTE_SCHIZO_UNMANAGED_SINGLETON;
     opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_envs, OPAL_MCA_PREFIX"ess");
     opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_vals, "singleton");
+    /* mark that we are in ORTE */
+    opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_envs, "ORTE_SCHIZO_DETECTION");
+    opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_vals, "ORTE");
+
 
   setup:
     opal_output_verbose(1, orte_schizo_base_framework.framework_output,
diff --git a/orte/mca/schizo/slurm/schizo_slurm.c b/orte/mca/schizo/slurm/schizo_slurm.c
index 3f5bebe6ce..1038f69044 100644
--- a/orte/mca/schizo/slurm/schizo_slurm.c
+++ b/orte/mca/schizo/slurm/schizo_slurm.c
@@ -62,6 +62,9 @@ static orte_schizo_launch_environ_t check_launch_environment(void)
         myenv = ORTE_SCHIZO_NATIVE_LAUNCHED;
         opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_envs, OPAL_MCA_PREFIX"ess");
         opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_vals, "pmi");
+        /* mark that we are native */
+        opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_envs, "ORTE_SCHIZO_DETECTION");
+        opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_vals, "NATIVE");
         goto setup;
     }
 
@@ -72,6 +75,10 @@ static orte_schizo_launch_environ_t check_launch_environment(void)
         return myenv;
     }
 
+    /* mark that we are in SLURM */
+    opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_envs, "ORTE_SCHIZO_DETECTION");
+    opal_argv_append_nosize(&pushed_vals, "SLURM");
+
     /* we are in an allocation, but were we direct launched
      * or are we a singleton? */
     if (NULL == getenv("SLURM_STEP_ID")) {