diff --git a/tests/status/base/test.sh b/tests/status/base/test.sh
index 0f398f57d5..bfeb56bf87 100755
--- a/tests/status/base/test.sh
+++ b/tests/status/base/test.sh
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ rlJournalStart
         rlLog "There should be the heading and one run"
         rlAssertGrep "2" "lines"
 
-        rlRun "tmt status -i /not/a/valid/runid | tee output" 0 "Invalid ID"
+        rlRun "tmt status -i /not/a/valid/runid | tee output" 2 "Invalid ID"
         rlRun "wc -l output | tee lines" 0 "Get the number of lines"
         rlLog "There should only be the heading"
         rlAssertGrep "1" "lines"
diff --git a/tmt/utils/__init__.py b/tmt/utils/__init__.py
index 222a535aae..7b3e7e1b2d 100644
--- a/tmt/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/tmt/utils/__init__.py
@@ -4518,6 +4518,9 @@ def generate_runs(
             run_path = Path(id_name)
             if '/' not in id_name:
                 run_path = path / run_path
+            if not run_path.exists():
+                raise tmt.utils.GeneralError(
+                    f"Directory '{run_path}' does not exist.")
             if run_path.is_absolute() and run_path.exists():
                 yield run_path
         else: