diff --git a/docs/user/bots.rst b/docs/user/bots.rst
index ae17cbf55..6c1e65759 100644
--- a/docs/user/bots.rst
+++ b/docs/user/bots.rst
@@ -1622,7 +1622,7 @@ The report configuration is stored in a `shadowserver-schema.json` file download
 
 The parser will attempt to download a schema update on startup when the *auto_update* option is enabled.
 
-Schema downloads can also be scheduled as a cron job:
+Schema downloads can also be scheduled as a cron job for the `intelmq` user:
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
diff --git a/intelmq/bots/parsers/shadowserver/_config.py b/intelmq/bots/parsers/shadowserver/_config.py
index 178bd0869..c53c1276d 100644
--- a/intelmq/bots/parsers/shadowserver/_config.py
+++ b/intelmq/bots/parsers/shadowserver/_config.py
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ class __Container:
 __config.schema_active = __config.schema_file
 __config.schema_mtime = 0.0
 __config.auto_update = False
+__config.test_mode = False
 __config.feedname_mapping = {}
 __config.filename_mapping = {}
 
@@ -113,6 +114,7 @@ def set_logger(logger):
 
 def enable_test_mode(enable):
     """ Set which schema to load. """
+    __config.test_mode = enable
     if enable:
         __config.schema_active = __config.schema_base
     else:
@@ -317,8 +319,10 @@ def reload():
         mtime = os.path.getmtime(__config.schema_file)
         if __config.schema_mtime == mtime:
             return
+    elif __config.test_mode:
+        return
     else:
-        __config.logger.info("The schema file does not exist.")
+        raise ValueError("The schema file does not exist.")
 
     if __config.schema_mtime == 0.0 and mtime == 0.0 and __config.auto_update:
         update_schema()