diff --git a/bin/ldapuserdir-ctl b/bin/ldapuserdir-ctl
index bf4ed0e..91914fa 100755
--- a/bin/ldapuserdir-ctl
+++ b/bin/ldapuserdir-ctl
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ config = read_cfg(cfgfile)
 
 user_dn = config['default_user_dn']
 if options.user_dn:
-    config['user_dn'] = options.user_dn
+    user_dn = options.user_dn
 if options.group_ou:
     config['group_ou'] = options.group_ou
 if options.user_ou:
@@ -262,8 +262,9 @@ if (mode == 'add' or mode == 'del') and len(usernames) == 0:
     sys.stderr.write("Error: Not enough arguments\n")
     sys.exit(1)
 
+# this we should actually do with systemuser2dn
 if ',' not in user_dn:
-    user_dn = 'CN=' + user_dn + ',' + user_ou
+    user_dn = 'CN=' + user_dn + ',' + config['user_ou']
 
 if flag_needprivileges and user_dn == config['default_user_dn']:
     try:
@@ -272,10 +273,18 @@ if flag_needprivileges and user_dn == config['default_user_dn']:
                       config['default_user_pw'],
                       user_ou = config['user_ou'],
                       logger = mylogger)
-        user_dn = l_unpriv.systemuser2dn(os.getlogin())
-        if user_dn == '':
-            sys.stderr.write('Error: Need priviledged user and cannot map your system user "%s" to LDAP DN for binding (you may want to use explicit -D user_dn option?)' % os.getlogin() )
-            sys.exit(1)
+        try:
+            user_dn = l_unpriv.systemuser2dn(os.getlogin())
+        except LdapUserDirError, err:
+            if str(err) == 'No such user':
+                sys.stderr.write('''
+Error: Need priviledged user and cannot map your system user "%s"
+to LDAP DN for binding (you may want to use the explicit -D user_dn option)
+''' % os.getlogin() )
+                sys.exit(1)
+            else:
+               sys.stderr.write('Uncaught Error: %s' % str(err)) 
+
     except ldap.LDAPError, e:
         sys.stderr.write('LDAP error: %s\n' % str(e)) 
         sys.exit(1)