diff --git a/cmd/podman/registry/config.go b/cmd/podman/registry/config.go
index 7d80053b33..1f6f6f566c 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/registry/config.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/registry/config.go
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ func containersConfModules() ([]string, error) {
 func newPodmanConfig() {
 	modules, err := containersConfModules()
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err.Error())
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Error parsing containers.conf modules: %v\n", err)
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ func newPodmanConfig() {
 		Modules:    modules,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
-		fmt.Fprint(os.Stderr, "Failed to obtain podman configuration: "+err.Error())
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Failed to obtain podman configuration: %v\n", err)
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
@@ -111,7 +111,7 @@ func newPodmanConfig() {
 			mode = entities.TunnelMode
 		}
 	default:
-		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "%s is not a supported OS", runtime.GOOS)
+		fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "%s is not a supported OS\n", runtime.GOOS)
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
diff --git a/cmd/podman/root.go b/cmd/podman/root.go
index 394dd61f47..1cba35a54d 100644
--- a/cmd/podman/root.go
+++ b/cmd/podman/root.go
@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@ func rootFlags(cmd *cobra.Command, podmanConfig *entities.PodmanConfig) {
 		// as a flag here to a) make sure that rootflags are aware of
 		// this flag and b) to have shell completions.
 		moduleFlagName := "module"
-		pFlags.StringSlice(moduleFlagName, nil, "Load the containers.conf(5) module")
+		lFlags.StringSlice(moduleFlagName, nil, "Load the containers.conf(5) module")
 		_ = cmd.RegisterFlagCompletionFunc(moduleFlagName, common.AutocompleteContainersConfModules)
 
 		// A *hidden* flag to change the database backend.
diff --git a/docs/source/markdown/podman.1.md b/docs/source/markdown/podman.1.md
index 4a2dbae854..da2c732d4e 100644
--- a/docs/source/markdown/podman.1.md
+++ b/docs/source/markdown/podman.1.md
@@ -92,7 +92,8 @@ Log messages at and above specified level: __debug__, __info__, __warn__, __erro
 
 Load the specified `containers.conf(5)` module.  Can be an absolute or relative path.  Please refer to `containers.conf(5)` for details.
 
-This feature is not supported on the remote client, including Mac and Windows (excluding WSL2) machines
+This flag is not supported on the remote client, including Mac and Windows (excluding WSL2) machines.
+Further note that the flag is a root-level flag and must be specified before any Podman sub-command.
 
 #### **--network-cmd-path**=*path*
 Path to the `slirp4netns(1)` command binary to use for setting up a slirp4netns network.
diff --git a/test/system/800-config.bats b/test/system/800-config.bats
index eef84e266a..90d0505adc 100644
--- a/test/system/800-config.bats
+++ b/test/system/800-config.bats
@@ -93,6 +93,10 @@ EOF
 annotations=['module=$random_data']
 EOF
 
+    run_podman 125 create --module=$conf_tmp -q $IMAGE
+    is "$output" "Error: unknown flag: --module
+See 'podman create --help'" "--module must be specified before the command"
+
     run_podman --module=$conf_tmp create -q $IMAGE
     cid="$output"
     run_podman container inspect $cid --format '{{index .Config.Annotations "module"}}'