diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3d8210c2b..c8aa7c49c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ Interact with your containers directly: pause, restart and stop containers. Laun
 ```
 sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/scope https://git.io/scope
 sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/scope
-sudo scope launch
+scope launch
 ```
 
 This script will download and run a recent Scope image from the Docker Hub.
diff --git a/scope b/scope
index d42969ad1..cd900f3a0 100755
--- a/scope
+++ b/scope
@@ -34,6 +34,26 @@ WEAVESCOPE_DOCKER_ARGS=${WEAVESCOPE_DOCKER_ARGS:-}
 COMMAND=$1
 shift 1
 
+check_docker_access() {
+    
+    # Extract socket path    
+    DOCKER_SOCK_FILE=""
+    if [ -z "${DOCKER_HOST+x}" ]; then
+	DOCKER_SOCK_FILE="/var/run/docker.sock"
+    else
+	WITHOUT_PREFIX="${DOCKER_HOST#unix://}"
+	if [ "$WITHOUT_PREFIX" != "$DOCKER_HOST" ]; then
+	    DOCKER_SOCK_FILE="$WITHOUT_PREFIX"
+	fi
+    fi
+    
+    if [ \( -n "$DOCKER_SOCK_FILE" \) -a \( ! -w "$DOCKER_SOCK_FILE" \) ]; then
+	echo "ERROR: cannot write to docker socket: $DOCKER_SOCK_FILE" >&2
+	echo "change socket permissions or try using sudo" >&2
+	exit 1
+    fi
+}
+
 # - The image embeds the weave script & Docker 1.3.1 client
 # - Docker versions prior to 1.5.0 do not support --pid=host
 # - Weave needs 1.6.0 now (image pulling changes)
@@ -119,6 +139,7 @@ launch_app_command() {
             $WEAVESCOPE_DOCKER_ARGS $SCOPE_IMAGE --no-probe "$@"
 }
 
+check_docker_access
 check_docker_version
 
 case "$COMMAND" in
diff --git a/site/installing.md b/site/installing.md
index 1a84036f6..5a4f512b9 100644
--- a/site/installing.md
+++ b/site/installing.md
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ To install Scope onto your local Docker machine in standalone mode, run the foll
 
     sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/scope https://git.io/scope
     sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/scope
-    sudo scope launch
+    scope launch
 
 This script downloads and runs a recent Scope image from the Docker Hub. Scope needs to be installed onto every machine that you want to monitor. Once launched, Scope doesn’t require any other configuration and it also doesn’t depend on Weave Net.
 
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ Then, install Scope onto your local Docker machine and start using Weave Cloud:
 
     sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/scope https://git.io/scope
     sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/scope
-    sudo scope launch --service-token=<token>
+    scope launch --service-token=<token>
 
 Where,
 
diff --git a/site/introducing.md b/site/introducing.md
index e68cd8191..f7359c64a 100644
--- a/site/introducing.md
+++ b/site/introducing.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ To install Scope on your local Docker machine, run the following commands:
 
     sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/scope https://git.io/scope
     sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/scope
-    sudo scope launch
+    scope launch
 
 Scope can be used in standalone mode, where you deploy it locally onto your hosts, or you can use Weave Scope in Service Mode.  Scope can be depoloyed to Kubernetes, DCOS and ECS cluster.  See [Installing Weave Scope](/site/installing.md) for more information.