diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 18cb1c5..5fa79d5 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -252,6 +252,9 @@ if (SQLITECPP_BUILD_TESTS)
     # add the subdirectory containing the CMakeLists.txt for the gtest library
     # TODO: under Linux, uses libgtest-dev if found
     # TODO: move to the new googletest Github repository
+    if (NOT EXISTS "${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/googletest/CMakeLists.txt")
+        message(FATAL_ERROR "Missing 'googletest' submodule! Either use 'git init submodule' and 'git update submodule' to get googletest according to the README, or deactivate unit tests with -DSQLITECPP_BUILD_TESTS=OFF")
+    endif ()
     add_subdirectory(googletest) 
     include_directories("${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/googletest/include")
 
diff --git a/build.bat b/build.bat
index 02d476f..895096b 100644
--- a/build.bat
+++ b/build.bat
@@ -7,11 +7,19 @@ cd build
 
 @REM Generate a Visual Studio solution for latest version found
 cmake -DSQLITECPP_BUILD_EXAMPLES=ON -DSQLITECPP_BUILD_TESTS=ON ..
+if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto onError
 
 @REM Build default configuration (ie 'Debug')
 cmake --build .
+if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto onError
 
 @REM Build and run tests
 ctest --output-on-failure
+if ERRORLEVEL 1 goto onError
 
 cd ..
+exit
+
+:onError
+@echo An error occured!
+cd ..
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/build.sh b/build.sh
index 92b46c7..4388be9 100755
--- a/build.sh
+++ b/build.sh
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
+#!/bin/sh
 # Copyright (c) 2012-2016 Sébastien Rombauts (sebastien.rombauts@gmail.com)
 #
 # Distributed under the MIT License (MIT) (See accompanying file LICENSE.txt
 # or copy at http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
+
+# exit on firts error
+set -e
+
 mkdir -p build
 cd build
 
 # Generate a Makefile for GCC (or Clang, depanding on CC/CXX envvar)
 cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DSQLITECPP_USE_GCOV=OFF -DSQLITECPP_BUILD_EXAMPLES=ON -DSQLITECPP_BUILD_TESTS=ON ..
+if [ $? != 0 ] ; then exit
 
 # Build (ie 'make')
 cmake --build .