diff --git a/pkg/cloud/services/compute/instance.go b/pkg/cloud/services/compute/instance.go
index 87853b3556..8630439592 100644
--- a/pkg/cloud/services/compute/instance.go
+++ b/pkg/cloud/services/compute/instance.go
@@ -130,6 +130,10 @@ func (s *Service) InstanceCreate(clusterName string, machine *clusterv1.Machine,
 			}
 		}
 	}
+	if len(nets) == 0 {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no network was found or provided. Please check your machine configuration and try again")
+	}
+
 	portsList := []servers.Network{}
 	for _, net := range nets {
 		if net.networkID == "" {