diff --git a/ct/immich.sh b/ct/immich.sh
index 926c80076..6754deb48 100644
--- a/ct/immich.sh
+++ b/ct/immich.sh
@@ -274,7 +274,8 @@ EOF
       msg_info "Updating Intel OpenVINO machine-learning"
       for attempt in $(seq 1 3); do
         $STD sudo --preserve-env=VIRTUAL_ENV,UV_HTTP_TIMEOUT -Pnu immich uv sync --extra openvino --no-dev --active --link-mode copy -n -p "${ML_PYTHON}" --managed-python && break
-        [[ $attempt -lt 3 ]] && msg_warn "uv sync attempt $attempt failed, retrying..." && sleep 10
+        [[ $attempt -eq 3 ]] && { msg_error "uv sync failed three times, the machine-learning environment was not built"; exit 1; }
+        msg_warn "uv sync attempt $attempt failed, retrying..." && sleep 10
       done
       patchelf --clear-execstack "${VIRTUAL_ENV}/lib/python3.13/site-packages/onnxruntime/capi/onnxruntime_pybind11_state.cpython-313-$(arch_resolve "x86_64" "aarch64")-linux-gnu.so"
       msg_ok "Updated Intel OpenVINO machine-learning"
@@ -289,7 +290,8 @@ EOF
       msg_info "Updating machine-learning"
       for attempt in $(seq 1 3); do
         $STD sudo --preserve-env=VIRTUAL_ENV,UV_HTTP_TIMEOUT -Pnu immich uv sync --extra cpu --no-dev --active --link-mode copy -n -p "${ML_PYTHON}" --managed-python && break
-        [[ $attempt -lt 3 ]] && msg_warn "uv sync attempt $attempt failed, retrying..." && sleep 10
+        [[ $attempt -eq 3 ]] && { msg_error "uv sync failed three times, the machine-learning environment was not built"; exit 1; }
+        msg_warn "uv sync attempt $attempt failed, retrying..." && sleep 10
       done
       msg_ok "Updated machine-learning"
     fi
diff --git a/install/immich-install.sh b/install/immich-install.sh
index 410367271..4093829a8 100644
--- a/install/immich-install.sh
+++ b/install/immich-install.sh
@@ -442,7 +442,8 @@ if [[ -f ~/.openvino ]]; then
   msg_info "Installing Intel OpenVINO machine-learning"
   for attempt in $(seq 1 3); do
     $STD sudo --preserve-env=VIRTUAL_ENV,UV_HTTP_TIMEOUT -Pnu immich uv sync --extra openvino --no-dev --active --link-mode copy -n -p "${ML_PYTHON}" --managed-python && break
-    [[ $attempt -lt 3 ]] && msg_warn "uv sync attempt $attempt failed, retrying..." && sleep 10
+    [[ $attempt -eq 3 ]] && { msg_error "uv sync failed three times, the machine-learning environment was not built"; exit 1; }
+    msg_warn "uv sync attempt $attempt failed, retrying..." && sleep 10
   done
   patchelf --clear-execstack "${VIRTUAL_ENV}/lib/python3.13/site-packages/onnxruntime/capi/onnxruntime_pybind11_state.cpython-313-$(arch_resolve "x86_64" "aarch64")-linux-gnu.so"
   msg_ok "Installed Intel OpenVINO machine-learning"
@@ -457,7 +458,8 @@ else
   msg_info "Installing machine-learning"
   for attempt in $(seq 1 3); do
     $STD sudo --preserve-env=VIRTUAL_ENV,UV_HTTP_TIMEOUT -Pnu immich uv sync --extra cpu --no-dev --active --link-mode copy -n -p "${ML_PYTHON}" --managed-python && break
-    [[ $attempt -lt 3 ]] && msg_warn "uv sync attempt $attempt failed, retrying..." && sleep 10
+    [[ $attempt -eq 3 ]] && { msg_error "uv sync failed three times, the machine-learning environment was not built"; exit 1; }
+    msg_warn "uv sync attempt $attempt failed, retrying..." && sleep 10
   done
   msg_ok "Installed machine-learning"
 fi