diff --git a/pkg/addons/gcpauth/enable.go b/pkg/addons/gcpauth/enable.go
index 93c7d091cf95d85b20a6332030cc23be0da4ff5b..20dd5cef2bbd4ef7450367652df4ff47c0be2056 100644
--- a/pkg/addons/gcpauth/enable.go
+++ b/pkg/addons/gcpauth/enable.go
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import (
 	"golang.org/x/oauth2/google"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/assets"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/config"
+	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/exit"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/mustload"
 	"k8s.io/minikube/pkg/minikube/out"
 )
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ func enableAddon(cfg *config.ClusterConfig) error {
 	ctx := context.Background()
 	creds, err := google.FindDefaultCredentials(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
-		return err
+		exit.WithCodeT(exit.Failure, "Could not find any GCP credentials. Either run `gcloud auth login` or set the GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS environment variable to the path of your credentials file.")
 	}
 
 	f := assets.NewMemoryAssetTarget(creds.JSON, credentialsPath, "0444")
@@ -81,7 +82,16 @@ func enableAddon(cfg *config.ClusterConfig) error {
 		return r.Copy(f)
 	}
 
-	return nil
+	out.WarningT("Could not determine a Google Cloud project, which might be ok.")
+	out.T(out.Tip, `To set your Google Cloud project,  run: 
+
+		gcloud config set project <project name>
+
+or set the GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT environment variable.`)
+
+	// Copy an empty file in to avoid errors about missing files
+	emptyFile := assets.NewMemoryAssetTarget([]byte{}, projectPath, "0444")
+	return r.Copy(emptyFile)
 }
 
 func disableAddon(cfg *config.ClusterConfig) error {
@@ -107,7 +117,13 @@ func disableAddon(cfg *config.ClusterConfig) error {
 
 // DisplayAddonMessage display an gcp auth addon specific message to the user
 func DisplayAddonMessage(cfg *config.ClusterConfig, name string, val string) error {
-	out.T(out.Notice, "Your GCP credentials will now be mounted into every pod created in the {{.name}} cluster.", out.V{"name": cfg.Name})
-	out.T(out.Notice, "If you don't want credential mounted into a specific pod, add a label with the `gcp-auth-skip-secret` key to your pod configuration.")
+	enable, err := strconv.ParseBool(val)
+	if err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrapf(err, "parsing bool: %s", name)
+	}
+	if enable {
+		out.T(out.Notice, "Your GCP credentials will now be mounted into every pod created in the {{.name}} cluster.", out.V{"name": cfg.Name})
+		out.T(out.Notice, "If you don't want your credentials mounted into a specific pod, add a label with the `gcp-auth-skip-secret` key to your pod configuration.")
+	}
 	return nil
 }