diff --git a/Annex/Init.hs b/Annex/Init.hs
index afe73954f2..1eb912b233 100644
--- a/Annex/Init.hs
+++ b/Annex/Init.hs
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {- git-annex repository initialization
  -
- - Copyright 2011-2021 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
+ - Copyright 2011-2022 Joey Hess <id@joeyh.name>
  -
  - Licensed under the GNU AGPL version 3 or higher.
  -}
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import qualified Git.Objects
 import Git.Types (fromConfigValue)
 import Git.ConfigTypes (SharedRepository(..))
 import qualified Annex.Branch
+import qualified Database.Fsck
 import Logs.UUID
 import Logs.Trust.Basic
 import Logs.Config
@@ -69,7 +70,9 @@ import Control.Concurrent.Async
 
 checkInitializeAllowed :: Annex a -> Annex a
 checkInitializeAllowed a = guardSafeToUseRepo $ noAnnexFileContent' >>= \case
-	Nothing -> a
+	Nothing -> do
+		checkSqliteWorks
+		a
 	Just noannexmsg -> do
 		warning "Initialization prevented by .noannex file (remove the file to override)"
 		unless (null noannexmsg) $
@@ -391,6 +394,21 @@ checkFifoSupport = unlessM probeFifoSupport $ do
 	warning "Disabling ssh connection caching."
 	setConfig (annexConfig "sshcaching") (Git.Config.boolConfig False)
 
+{- Sqlite needs the filesystem to support range locking. Some like CIFS
+ - do not, which will cause sqlite to fail with ErrorBusy. -}
+checkSqliteWorks :: Annex ()
+checkSqliteWorks = do
+	u <- getUUID
+	tryNonAsync (Database.Fsck.openDb u >>= Database.Fsck.closeDb) >>= \case
+		Right () -> return ()
+		Left e -> do
+			showLongNote $ "Detected a filesystem where Sqlite does not work."
+			showLongNote $ "(" ++ show e ++ ")"
+			showLongNote $ "To work around this problem, you can set annex.dbdir " ++
+				"to a directory on another filesystem."
+			showLongNote $ "For example: git config annex.dbdir $HOME/cache/git-annex"
+			giveup "Not initialized."
+
 checkSharedClone :: Annex Bool
 checkSharedClone = inRepo Git.Objects.isSharedClone
 
diff --git a/Database/Handle.hs b/Database/Handle.hs
index 9c04f701b1..b0c9786974 100644
--- a/Database/Handle.hs
+++ b/Database/Handle.hs
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ workerThread db tablename jobs = newconn
 	newconn = do
 		v <- tryNonAsync (runSqliteRobustly tablename db loop)
 		case v of
-			Left e -> hPutStrLn stderr $
+			Left e -> giveup $
 				"sqlite worker thread crashed: " ++ show e
 			Right cont -> cont
 	
diff --git a/doc/bugs/crippled_filesystem__58___SQLite3_returned_ErrorBusy.mdwn b/doc/bugs/crippled_filesystem__58___SQLite3_returned_ErrorBusy.mdwn
index b22f15cb79..1a036f8a5d 100644
--- a/doc/bugs/crippled_filesystem__58___SQLite3_returned_ErrorBusy.mdwn
+++ b/doc/bugs/crippled_filesystem__58___SQLite3_returned_ErrorBusy.mdwn
@@ -86,3 +86,5 @@ add file1 ok
 When initializing the repo with v5 git-annex (git annex init --version=5 test), then the legacy direct mode is used and file addition works well.
 
 [[!tag projects/datalad]]
+
+> [[done]] --[[Joey]]
diff --git a/doc/bugs/crippled_filesystem__58___SQLite3_returned_ErrorBusy/comment_13_baafac7f80ff4b7cc4cf078e4ab969c3._comment b/doc/bugs/crippled_filesystem__58___SQLite3_returned_ErrorBusy/comment_13_baafac7f80ff4b7cc4cf078e4ab969c3._comment
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c3f92feb5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/bugs/crippled_filesystem__58___SQLite3_returned_ErrorBusy/comment_13_baafac7f80ff4b7cc4cf078e4ab969c3._comment
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+[[!comment format=mdwn
+ username="joey"
+ subject="""comment 13"""
+ date="2022-08-17T17:05:25Z"
+ content="""
+I've implemented probing by `git-annex init`, and it will display
+this message to help the user get it configured:
+
+	init  
+	  Detected a filesystem where Sqlite does not work.
+	
+	  (sqlite worker thread crashed: user error (SQLite3 returned ErrorBusy while attempting to perform close(synthetic)(after successful open)))
+	
+	  To work around this problem, you can set annex.dbdir to a directory on another filesystem.
+	
+	  For example: git config annex.dbdir $HOME/cache/git-annex
+	
+	git-annex: Not initialized.
+
+Going to close the bug since I think this is the best that it can be handled.
+"""]]