diff --git a/utils/docker/entrypoint.sh b/utils/docker/entrypoint.sh
index a3a45511b..cc01216ce 100755
--- a/utils/docker/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/utils/docker/entrypoint.sh
@@ -6,6 +6,72 @@
 # SUBROUTINES #
 ###############
 
+# Find ciritical files and perform sanity checks
+initialze () {
+
+    # Check to see if this script has access to all the commands it needs
+    for CMD in mysqladmin sed usermod service; do
+      type $CMD &> /dev/null
+
+      if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+        echo
+        echo "ERROR: The script cannot find the required command \"${CMD}\"."
+        echo
+        exit 1
+      fi
+    done
+
+    # Look in common places for the zoneminder config file - zm.conf
+    for FILE in "/etc/zm.conf" "/etc/zm/zm.conf" "/usr/local/etc/zm.conf" "/usr/local/etc/zm/zm.conf"; do
+        if [ -f $FILE ]; then
+            ZMCONF=$FILE
+            break
+        fi
+    done
+
+    # Look in common places for the zoneminder startup perl script - zmpkg.pl
+    for FILE in "/usr/bin/zmpkg.pl" "/usr/local/bin/zmpkg.pl"; do
+        if [ -f $FILE ]; then
+            ZMPKG=$FILE
+            break
+        fi
+    done
+
+    # Look in common places for the zoneminder dB creation script - zm_create.sql
+    for FILE in "/usr/share/zoneminder/db/zm_create.sql" "/usr/local/share/zoneminder/db/zm_create.sql"; do
+        if [ -f $FILE ]; then
+            ZMCREATE=$FILE
+            break
+        fi
+    done
+
+    # Look in common places for the php.ini relevant to zoneminder - php.ini
+    # Search order matters here because debian distros commonly have multiple php.ini's
+    for FILE in "/etc/php/7.0/apache2/php.ini" "/etc/php5/apache2/php.ini" "/etc/php.ini" "/usr/local/etc/php.ini"; do
+        if [ -f $FILE ]; then
+            PHPINI=$FILE
+            break
+        fi
+    done
+
+    for FILE in $ZMCONF $ZMPKG $ZMCREATE $PHPINI; do 
+        if [ -z $FILE ]; then
+            echo
+            echo "FATAL: This script was unable to determine one or more cirtical files. Cannot continue."
+            echo
+            echo "VARIABLE DUMP"
+            echo "-------------"
+            echo
+            echo "Path to zm.conf: ${ZMCONF}"
+            echo "Path to zmpkg.pl: ${ZMPKG}"
+            echo "Path to zm_create.sql: ${ZMCREATE}"
+            echo "Path to php.ini: ${PHPINI}"
+            echo
+            exit 98
+        fi
+    done
+}
+
 start_mysql () {
     service mysql start
     # Give MySQL time to wake up
@@ -37,34 +103,34 @@ close_mysql () {
 ################
 
 echo
+initialize
 
 # Configure then start Mysql
 if [ -n "$MYSQL_SERVER" ] && [ -n "$MYSQL_USER" ] && [ -n "$MYSQL_PASSWORD" ] && [ -n "$MYSQL_DB" ]; then
-    sed -i -e "s/ZM_DB_NAME=zm/ZM_DB_NAME=$MYSQL_USER/g" /etc/zm.conf
-    sed -i -e "s/ZM_DB_USER=zmuser/ZM_DB_USER=$MYSQL_USER/g" /etc/zm.conf
-    sed -i -e "s/ZM_DB_PASS=zm/ZM_DB_PASS=$MYSQL_PASS/g" /etc/zm.conf
-    sed -i -e "s/ZM_DB_HOST=localhost/ZM_DB_HOST=$MYSQL_SERVER/g" /etc/zm.conf
+    sed -i -e "s/ZM_DB_NAME=zm/ZM_DB_NAME=$MYSQL_USER/g" $ZMCONF
+    sed -i -e "s/ZM_DB_USER=zmuser/ZM_DB_USER=$MYSQL_USER/g" $ZMCONF
+    sed -i -e "s/ZM_DB_PASS=zm/ZM_DB_PASS=$MYSQL_PASS/g" $ZMCONF
+    sed -i -e "s/ZM_DB_HOST=localhost/ZM_DB_HOST=$MYSQL_SERVER/g" $ZMCONF
     start_mysql
 else
     usermod -d /var/lib/mysql/ mysql
     start_mysql
-    mysql -u root < /usr/local/share/zoneminder/db/zm_create.sql
+    mysql -u root < $ZMCREATE
     mysql -u root -e "GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'zmuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'zmpass';"
 fi
 # Ensure we shut down mysql cleanly later:
 trap close_mysql SIGTERM
 
 # Configure then start Apache
-if [ -n "$TZ" ]; then
-    echo "date.timezone = $TZ" >> /etc/php/7.0/apache2/php.ini
-else
-    echo "date.timezone = UTC" >> /etc/php/7.0/apache2/php.ini
+if [ -z "$TZ" ]; then
+    $TZ = UTC
 fi
+echo "date.timezone = $TZ" >> $PHPINI
 service apache2 start
 
 # Start ZoneMinder
 echo " * Starting ZoneMinder video surveillance recorder"
-/usr/local/bin/zmpkg.pl start
+$ZMPKG start
 echo "   ...done."
 
 # Stay in a loop to keep the container running