diff --git a/data-node/src/main/java/org/graylog/datanode/Configuration.java b/data-node/src/main/java/org/graylog/datanode/Configuration.java
index 7410dc9388..42888f7020 100644
--- a/data-node/src/main/java/org/graylog/datanode/Configuration.java
+++ b/data-node/src/main/java/org/graylog/datanode/Configuration.java
@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ import com.github.joschi.jadconfig.validators.PositiveIntegerValidator;
 import com.github.joschi.jadconfig.validators.StringNotBlankValidator;
 import com.github.joschi.jadconfig.validators.URIAbsoluteValidator;
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
-import com.google.common.net.HostAndPort;
 import com.google.common.net.InetAddresses;
 import org.graylog.datanode.configuration.BaseConfiguration;
 import org.graylog2.plugin.Tools;
@@ -39,6 +38,7 @@ import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 import javax.annotation.Nullable;
 import java.io.File;
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.Inet4Address;
 import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.net.URI;
@@ -224,6 +224,16 @@ public class Configuration extends BaseConfiguration {
         }
     }
 
+    @ValidatorMethod
+    @SuppressWarnings("unused")
+    public void validateOpenSearchDistribution() throws ValidationException {
+        try {
+            OpensearchDistribution.detectInDirectory(Path.of(getOpensearchDistributionRoot()));
+        } catch (RuntimeException | IOException e) {
+            throw new ValidationException("Could not detect OpenSearch in " + getOpensearchDistributionRoot() + ", please check your installation. Error was: " + e.getMessage());
+        }
+    }
+
     @Parameter(value = "node_id_file", validators = NodeIdFileValidator.class)
     private String nodeIdFile = "data/node-id";