diff --git a/cloud/lxc/lxc_container.py b/cloud/lxc/lxc_container.py
index 119d45069c3..b2dba2111e4 100644
--- a/cloud/lxc/lxc_container.py
+++ b/cloud/lxc/lxc_container.py
@@ -383,9 +383,7 @@ EXAMPLES = """
 try:
     import lxc
 except ImportError:
-    msg = 'The lxc module is not importable. Check the requirements.'
-    print("failed=True msg='%s'" % msg)
-    raise SystemExit(msg)
+    HAS_LXC = False
 
 
 # LXC_COMPRESSION_MAP is a map of available compression types when creating
@@ -1706,6 +1704,11 @@ def main():
         supports_check_mode=False,
     )
 
+    if not HAS_LXC:
+        module.fail_json(
+            msg='The `lxc` module is not importable. Check the requirements.'
+        )
+
     lv_name = module.params.get('lv_name')
     if not lv_name:
         module.params['lv_name'] = module.params.get('name')