diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 02bc490f..691c9adc 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -97,6 +97,17 @@ endif()
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 if (BUILD_IMPORTER)
+   find_file(COUNTRY_GRID_FILE country_osm_grid.sql.gz
+             PATHS ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/data
+             NO_DEFAULT_PATH
+             DOC "Location of the country grid file."
+            )
+
+   if (NOT COUNTRY_GRID_FILE)
+       message(FATAL_ERROR "\nYou need to download the country_osm_grid first:\n"
+                           "    wget -O ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/data/country_osm_grid.sql.gz https://www.nominatim.org/data/country_grid.sql.gz")
+   endif()
+
    set(CUSTOMSCRIPTS
        check_import_finished.php
        country_languages.php
@@ -221,7 +232,7 @@ if (BUILD_IMPORTER)
     install(DIRECTORY lib-sql DESTINATION ${NOMINATIM_LIBDIR})
 
     install(FILES data/country_name.sql
-                  data/country_osm_grid.sql.gz
+                  ${COUNTRY_GRID_FILE}
                   data/words.sql
             DESTINATION ${NOMINATIM_DATADIR})
 endif()
diff --git a/lib-php/setup/SetupClass.php b/lib-php/setup/SetupClass.php
index 03b01631..fedbb644 100755
--- a/lib-php/setup/SetupClass.php
+++ b/lib-php/setup/SetupClass.php
@@ -166,11 +166,6 @@ class SetupFunctions
         // Try accessing the C module, so we know early if something is wrong
         $this->checkModulePresence(); // raises exception on failure
 
-        if (!file_exists(CONST_DataDir.'/country_osm_grid.sql.gz')) {
-            echo 'Error: you need to download the country_osm_grid first:';
-            echo "\n    wget -O ".CONST_DataDir."/country_osm_grid.sql.gz https://www.nominatim.org/data/country_grid.sql.gz\n";
-            exit(1);
-        }
         $this->pgsqlRunScriptFile(CONST_DataDir.'/country_name.sql');
         $this->pgsqlRunScriptFile(CONST_DataDir.'/country_osm_grid.sql.gz');