diff --git a/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto b/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto
index 1cd04e506..81b1801cf 100755
--- a/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto
+++ b/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto
@@ -978,8 +978,9 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
 UNLIKELY_EOF
     # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     DeterminePythonVersion
-    REMOTE_VERSION=`"$LE_PYTHON" "$TEMP_DIR/fetch.py" --latest-version`
-    if [ "$LE_AUTO_VERSION" != "$REMOTE_VERSION" ]; then
+    if ! REMOTE_VERSION=`"$LE_PYTHON" "$TEMP_DIR/fetch.py" --latest-version` ; then
+      echo "WARNING: unable to check for updates."
+    elif [ "$LE_AUTO_VERSION" != "$REMOTE_VERSION" ]; then
       echo "Upgrading letsencrypt-auto $LE_AUTO_VERSION to $REMOTE_VERSION..."
 
       # Now we drop into Python so we don't have to install even more
diff --git a/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto.template b/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto.template
index 2c8e1ec4c..168dea2af 100755
--- a/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto.template
+++ b/letsencrypt-auto-source/letsencrypt-auto.template
@@ -248,8 +248,9 @@ else
 UNLIKELY_EOF
     # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
     DeterminePythonVersion
-    REMOTE_VERSION=`"$LE_PYTHON" "$TEMP_DIR/fetch.py" --latest-version`
-    if [ "$LE_AUTO_VERSION" != "$REMOTE_VERSION" ]; then
+    if ! REMOTE_VERSION=`"$LE_PYTHON" "$TEMP_DIR/fetch.py" --latest-version` ; then
+      echo "WARNING: unable to check for updates."
+    elif [ "$LE_AUTO_VERSION" != "$REMOTE_VERSION" ]; then
       echo "Upgrading letsencrypt-auto $LE_AUTO_VERSION to $REMOTE_VERSION..."
 
       # Now we drop into Python so we don't have to install even more