diff --git a/dev/prologue.jl b/dev/prologue.jl
index 09fd12f..0aa317e 100644
--- a/dev/prologue.jl
+++ b/dev/prologue.jl
@@ -2,14 +2,19 @@ using P4est_jll: P4est_jll
 export P4est_jll
 
 using ..P4est: _PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST, _PREFERENCE_LIBSC
+using MPIPreferences: MPIPreferences
 
-@static if _PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST == "P4est_jll"
+@static if _PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST == "P4est_jll" && MPIPreferences.binary == "system"
+    @warn "System MPI version detected, but not a system p4est version. To make P4est.jl work, you need to set the preferences, see https://trixi-framework.github.io/P4est.jl/stable/#Using-a-custom-version-of-MPI-and/or-p4est."
+elseif _PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST == "P4est_jll"
     const libp4est = P4est_jll.libp4est
 else
     const libp4est = _PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST
 end
 
-@static if _PREFERENCE_LIBSC == "P4est_jll"
+@static if _PREFERENCE_LIBSC == "P4est_jll" && MPIPreferences.binary == "system"
+    @warn "System MPI version detected, but not a system p4est version. To make P4est.jl work, you need to set the preferences, see https://trixi-framework.github.io/P4est.jl/stable/#Using-a-custom-version-of-MPI-and/or-p4est."
+elseif _PREFERENCE_LIBSC == "P4est_jll"
     const libsc = P4est_jll.libsc
 else
     const libsc = _PREFERENCE_LIBSC
diff --git a/src/LibP4est.jl b/src/LibP4est.jl
index d068ab2..d96dcde 100644
--- a/src/LibP4est.jl
+++ b/src/LibP4est.jl
@@ -11,14 +11,19 @@ using P4est_jll: P4est_jll
 export P4est_jll
 
 using ..P4est: _PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST, _PREFERENCE_LIBSC
+using MPIPreferences: MPIPreferences
 
-@static if _PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST == "P4est_jll"
+@static if _PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST == "P4est_jll" && MPIPreferences.binary == "system"
+    @warn "System MPI version detected, but not a system p4est version. To make P4est.jl work, you need to set the preferences, see https://trixi-framework.github.io/P4est.jl/stable/#Using-a-custom-version-of-MPI-and/or-p4est."
+elseif _PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST == "P4est_jll"
     const libp4est = P4est_jll.libp4est
 else
     const libp4est = _PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST
 end
 
-@static if _PREFERENCE_LIBSC == "P4est_jll"
+@static if _PREFERENCE_LIBSC == "P4est_jll" && MPIPreferences.binary == "system"
+    @warn "System MPI version detected, but not a system p4est version. To make P4est.jl work, you need to set the preferences, see https://trixi-framework.github.io/P4est.jl/stable/#Using-a-custom-version-of-MPI-and/or-p4est."
+elseif _PREFERENCE_LIBSC == "P4est_jll"
     const libsc = P4est_jll.libsc
 else
     const libsc = _PREFERENCE_LIBSC
diff --git a/src/P4est.jl b/src/P4est.jl
index 0d86322..c4a0d7f 100644
--- a/src/P4est.jl
+++ b/src/P4est.jl
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ module P4est
 
 using Reexport: @reexport
 
-
+using MPIPreferences: MPIPreferences
 # We need to load the preference setting from here and not from `LibP4est.jl`
 # since `@load_preference` looks into the module it is running from. Thus, we
 # load all preferences here and access them from the `module LibP4est`.
@@ -66,6 +66,15 @@ function set_library_p4est!(path = nothing; force = true)
     @info "Please restart Julia and reload P4est.jl for the library changes to take effect"
 end
 
+"""
+    P4est.path_p4est_library()
+
+Return the path of the `p4est` library that is used, when a system-provided library
+is configured via the preferences. Otherwise `P4est_jll` is returned, which means
+that the default p4est version from P4est_jll.jl is used.
+"""
+path_p4est_library() = _PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST
+
 """
     P4est.set_library_sc!(path; force = true)
 
@@ -85,6 +94,23 @@ function set_library_sc!(path = nothing; force = true)
     @info "Please restart Julia and reload P4est.jl for the library changes to take effect"
 end
 
+"""
+    P4est.path_sc_library()
+
+Return the path of the `sc` library that is used, when a system-provided library
+is configured via the preferences. Otherwise `P4est_jll` is returned, which means
+that the default sc version from P4est_jll.jl is used.
+"""
+path_sc_library() = _PREFERENCE_LIBSC
+
+"""
+    P4est.preferences_set_correctly()
+
+Returns `false` if a system-provided MPI installation is set via the MPIPreferences, but
+not a system-provided `p4est` installation. In this case, P4est.jl is not usable.
+"""
+preferences_set_correctly() = !(_PREFERENCE_LIBP4EST == "P4est_jll" && MPIPreferences.binary == "system")
+
 """
     P4est.init(log_handler, log_threshold)
 
@@ -110,10 +136,16 @@ end
 
 
 function __init__()
-    version = P4est.version()
-
-    if !(v"2.3" <= version < v"3-")
-        @warn "Detected version $(version) of `p4est`. Currently, we only support versions v2.x.y from v2.3.0 on. Not everything may work correctly."
+    # If a system-provided MPI installation with default p4est version is used, we cannot execute `P4est.version()`
+    # because the p4est functions are not available
+    if preferences_set_correctly()
+        version = P4est.version()
+
+        if !(v"2.3" <= version < v"3-")
+            @warn "Detected version $(version) of `p4est`. Currently, we only support versions v2.x.y from v2.3.0 on. Not everything may work correctly."
+        end
+    else
+        @warn "System MPI version detected, but not a system p4est version. To make P4est.jl work, you need to set the preferences, see https://trixi-framework.github.io/P4est.jl/stable/#Using-a-custom-version-of-MPI-and/or-p4est."
     end
 
     return nothing