diff --git a/piker/ui/_notify.py b/piker/ui/_notify.py
index c4804663..ee79c75d 100644
--- a/piker/ui/_notify.py
+++ b/piker/ui/_notify.py
@@ -82,7 +82,6 @@ async def notify_from_ems_status_msg(
             os.environ['DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS'] = (
                 f'unix:path=/run/user/{_dbus_uid}/bus'
             )
-
     result = await trio.run_process(
         [
             'notify-send',
@@ -93,6 +92,17 @@ async def notify_from_ems_status_msg(
             # TODO: add in standard fill/exec info that maybe we
             # pack in a broker independent way?
             f"'{msg.pformat()}'",
-        ],
+        ],           
+        capture_stdout=True,
+        capture_stderr=True,
+        check=False,
     )
-    log.runtime(result)
+    if result.returncode != 0:
+        log.warn(f'No notification daemon installed stderr: {result.stderr}')
+                
+        
+    log.runtime(result)    
+
+
+
+