diff --git a/roles/use-buildset-registry/tasks/user-config.yaml b/roles/use-buildset-registry/tasks/user-config.yaml
index 238262fd5..b4c9eea61 100644
--- a/roles/use-buildset-registry/tasks/user-config.yaml
+++ b/roles/use-buildset-registry/tasks/user-config.yaml
@@ -37,10 +37,18 @@
     content: "{{ docker_config | to_nice_json }}"
     dest: "~/.docker/config.json"
     mode: 0600
+# The next two tasks are for supporting the "containers" tools (ie,
+# not docker); this directory doesn't exist on Xenial.
+- name: Check if /run/user exists
+  stat:
+    path: "/run/user/{{ ansible_user_uid }}"
+  register: run_user
 - name: Write containers auth configuration
+  when: run_user.stat.exists
   copy:
     content: "{{ docker_config | to_nice_json }}"
     dest: "/run/user/{{ ansible_user_uid }}/auth.json"
+# The next two tasks are for supporting k8s
 - name: Check if /var/lib/kubelet exists
   stat:
     path: /var/lib/kubelet