diff --git a/grizzly/args.py b/grizzly/args.py
index 0f6c6a84..a28badb9 100644
--- a/grizzly/args.py
+++ b/grizzly/args.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from platform import system
 
+from .common.fuzzmanager import FM_CONFIG, ProgramConfiguration
 from .common.plugins import scan as scan_plugins
 from .common.plugins import scan_target_assets
 from .common.utils import DEFAULT_TIME_LIMIT, TIMEOUT_DELAY, __version__
@@ -265,6 +266,18 @@ def sanity_check(self, args):
         if not args.binary.is_file():
             self.parser.error(f"file not found: '{args.binary!s}'")
 
+        # fuzzmanager reporter related checks
+        if args.fuzzmanager:
+            if not FM_CONFIG.is_file():
+                self.parser.error(f"--fuzzmanager: missing '{FM_CONFIG}'")
+            bin_cfg = Path(f"{args.binary}.fuzzmanagerconf")
+            if not bin_cfg.is_file():
+                self.parser.error(f"--fuzzmanager: missing '{bin_cfg}'")
+            try:
+                ProgramConfiguration.fromBinary(str(args.binary))
+            except RuntimeError as exc:
+                self.parser.error(f"--fuzzmanager, {exc}")
+
         if args.launch_attempts < 1:
             self.parser.error("--launch-attempts must be >= 1")
 
diff --git a/grizzly/common/fuzzmanager.py b/grizzly/common/fuzzmanager.py
index 0f91f046..02284c98 100644
--- a/grizzly/common/fuzzmanager.py
+++ b/grizzly/common/fuzzmanager.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 from .reporter import Quality
 from .utils import grz_tmp
 
+FM_CONFIG = Path.home() / ".fuzzmanagerconf"
 LOG = getLogger(__name__)
 
 
diff --git a/grizzly/common/reporter.py b/grizzly/common/reporter.py
index bdf42284..960b6588 100644
--- a/grizzly/common/reporter.py
+++ b/grizzly/common/reporter.py
@@ -11,10 +11,8 @@
 from tempfile import TemporaryDirectory
 from zipfile import ZIP_DEFLATED, ZipFile
 
-# import FuzzManager utilities
 from Collector.Collector import Collector
 from fasteners.process_lock import InterProcessLock
-from FTB.ProgramConfiguration import ProgramConfiguration
 from psutil import disk_usage
 
 from .report import Report
@@ -166,8 +164,6 @@ def _post_submit(self):
 
 
 class FuzzManagerReporter(Reporter):
-    FM_CONFIG = Path.home() / ".fuzzmanagerconf"
-
     __slots__ = ("_extra_metadata", "quality", "tool")
 
     def __init__(self, tool):
@@ -182,22 +178,6 @@ def __init__(self, tool):
     def _post_submit(self):
         self._extra_metadata.clear()
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def sanity_check(bin_file):
-        """Perform FuzzManager sanity check.
-
-        Args:
-            bin_file (Path): Binary file being tested.
-
-        Returns:
-            None
-        """
-        if not FuzzManagerReporter.FM_CONFIG.is_file():
-            raise OSError(f"Missing: {FuzzManagerReporter.FM_CONFIG}")
-        if not Path(f"{bin_file}.fuzzmanagerconf").is_file():
-            raise OSError(f"Missing: {bin_file}.fuzzmanagerconf")
-        ProgramConfiguration.fromBinary(str(bin_file))
-
     def add_extra_metadata(self, key, value):
         """Add extra metadata to be reported with any CrashEntrys reported.
 
diff --git a/grizzly/common/test_reporter.py b/grizzly/common/test_reporter.py
index 06041785..9fbbcd14 100644
--- a/grizzly/common/test_reporter.py
+++ b/grizzly/common/test_reporter.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 # pylint: disable=protected-access
 from pathlib import Path
 
-from FTB.ProgramConfiguration import ProgramConfiguration
 from pytest import mark, raises
 
 from .report import Report
@@ -133,28 +132,6 @@ def test_filesystem_reporter_04(mocker, tmp_path):
     assert any((tmp_path / "dst").glob("test_prefix_logs"))
 
 
-def test_fuzzmanager_reporter_01(mocker, tmp_path):
-    """test FuzzManagerReporter.sanity_check()"""
-    fake_reporter = mocker.patch("grizzly.common.reporter.ProgramConfiguration")
-    fake_reporter.fromBinary.return_value = mocker.Mock(spec_set=ProgramConfiguration)
-    # missing global FM config file
-    FuzzManagerReporter.FM_CONFIG = tmp_path / "no_file"
-    with raises(IOError, match="no_file"):
-        FuzzManagerReporter.sanity_check("fake")
-    # missing binary FM config file
-    fake_fmc = tmp_path / ".fuzzmanagerconf"
-    fake_fmc.touch()
-    fake_bin = tmp_path / "bin"
-    fake_bin.touch()
-    FuzzManagerReporter.FM_CONFIG = fake_fmc
-    with raises(IOError, match="bin.fuzzmanagerconf"):
-        FuzzManagerReporter.sanity_check(str(fake_bin))
-    # success
-    (tmp_path / "bin.fuzzmanagerconf").touch()
-    FuzzManagerReporter.sanity_check(str(fake_bin))
-    assert fake_reporter.fromBinary.call_count == 1
-
-
 @mark.parametrize(
     "tests, frequent, force, sig_cache",
     [
@@ -170,7 +147,7 @@ def test_fuzzmanager_reporter_01(mocker, tmp_path):
         (False, False, False, False),
     ],
 )
-def test_fuzzmanager_reporter_02(mocker, tmp_path, tests, frequent, force, sig_cache):
+def test_fuzzmanager_reporter_01(mocker, tmp_path, tests, frequent, force, sig_cache):
     """test FuzzManagerReporter.submit()"""
     mocker.patch("grizzly.common.reporter.Path.cwd", return_value=tmp_path)
     mocker.patch("grizzly.common.reporter.getenv", autospec=True, return_value="0")
diff --git a/grizzly/main.py b/grizzly/main.py
index 8595b5aa..26dcad26 100644
--- a/grizzly/main.py
+++ b/grizzly/main.py
@@ -33,8 +33,6 @@
 def main(args):
     configure_logging(args.log_level)
     LOG.info("Starting Grizzly (%d)", getpid())
-    if args.fuzzmanager:
-        FuzzManagerReporter.sanity_check(args.binary)
 
     if args.headless:
         LOG.info("Running browser headless (%s)", args.headless)
diff --git a/grizzly/reduce/conftest.py b/grizzly/reduce/conftest.py
index 270ad850..00011b91 100644
--- a/grizzly/reduce/conftest.py
+++ b/grizzly/reduce/conftest.py
@@ -8,18 +8,6 @@
 import pytest
 
 
-@pytest.fixture
-def tmp_path_fm_config(tmp_path, mocker):
-    """Ensure fm config is always read from tmp_path so ~/.fuzzmanagerconf
-    can't be used by accident.
-    """
-    mocker.patch(
-        "grizzly.reduce.core.FuzzManagerReporter.FM_CONFIG",
-        new=str(tmp_path / ".fuzzmanagerconf"),
-    )
-    (tmp_path / ".fuzzmanagerconf").touch()
-
-
 @pytest.fixture
 def reporter_sequential_strftime(mocker):
     """Make `strftime` in `FilesystemReporter` return sequential values.
diff --git a/grizzly/reduce/core.py b/grizzly/reduce/core.py
index c5e7b3ad..635b0c59 100644
--- a/grizzly/reduce/core.py
+++ b/grizzly/reduce/core.py
@@ -766,8 +766,6 @@ def main(cls, args):
         # pylint: disable=too-many-return-statements
         configure_logging(args.log_level)
         setlocale(LC_ALL, "")
-        if args.fuzzmanager:
-            FuzzManagerReporter.sanity_check(args.binary)
 
         LOG.info("Starting Grizzly Reduce")
 
diff --git a/grizzly/reduce/test_main.py b/grizzly/reduce/test_main.py
index 8e1958fb..28d525c6 100644
--- a/grizzly/reduce/test_main.py
+++ b/grizzly/reduce/test_main.py
@@ -13,10 +13,7 @@
 from .args import ReduceArgs, ReduceFuzzManagerIDArgs, ReduceFuzzManagerIDQualityArgs
 from .exceptions import GrizzlyReduceBaseException
 
-pytestmark = mark.usefixtures(
-    "tmp_path_fm_config",
-    "tmp_path_status_db_reduce",
-)
+pytestmark = mark.usefixtures("tmp_path_status_db_reduce")
 
 
 def test_args_01(capsys, tmp_path, mocker):
diff --git a/grizzly/reduce/test_main_fm.py b/grizzly/reduce/test_main_fm.py
index 6b175e00..2eeec561 100644
--- a/grizzly/reduce/test_main_fm.py
+++ b/grizzly/reduce/test_main_fm.py
@@ -8,10 +8,7 @@
 from ..common.utils import Exit
 from .crash import main as crash_main
 
-pytestmark = mark.usefixtures(
-    "tmp_path_fm_config",
-    "tmp_path_status_db_reduce",
-)
+pytestmark = mark.usefixtures("tmp_path_status_db_reduce")
 
 
 @mark.parametrize(
diff --git a/grizzly/reduce/test_reduce.py b/grizzly/reduce/test_reduce.py
index ae1bccd7..2638e011 100644
--- a/grizzly/reduce/test_reduce.py
+++ b/grizzly/reduce/test_reduce.py
@@ -25,7 +25,6 @@
 LOG = getLogger(__name__)
 pytestmark = mark.usefixtures(
     "reporter_sequential_strftime",
-    "tmp_path_fm_config",
     "tmp_path_status_db_reduce",
 )
 
diff --git a/grizzly/reduce/test_strategies.py b/grizzly/reduce/test_strategies.py
index df7e1f2b..dfefc59c 100644
--- a/grizzly/reduce/test_strategies.py
+++ b/grizzly/reduce/test_strategies.py
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 LOG = getLogger(__name__)
 pytestmark = mark.usefixtures(
     "reporter_sequential_strftime",
-    "tmp_path_fm_config",
     "tmp_path_status_db_reduce",
 )
 
diff --git a/grizzly/replay/replay.py b/grizzly/replay/replay.py
index d218e191..2ea8f5ec 100644
--- a/grizzly/replay/replay.py
+++ b/grizzly/replay/replay.py
@@ -579,9 +579,6 @@ def run(
     @classmethod
     def main(cls, args):
         configure_logging(args.log_level)
-        if args.fuzzmanager:
-            FuzzManagerReporter.sanity_check(args.binary)
-
         LOG.info("Starting Grizzly Replay")
 
         if args.headless:
diff --git a/grizzly/test_args.py b/grizzly/test_args.py
index d593970f..2585439a 100644
--- a/grizzly/test_args.py
+++ b/grizzly/test_args.py
@@ -123,6 +123,10 @@ def test_common_args_02(capsys, mocker, args, msg, idx):
 )
 def test_common_args_03(capsys, mocker, tmp_path, args, msg, targets):
     """test CommonArgs.parse_args()"""
+    fm_config = tmp_path / ".fuzzmanagerconf"
+    fm_config.touch()
+    mocker.patch("grizzly.args.FM_CONFIG", fm_config)
+    mocker.patch("grizzly.args.ProgramConfiguration", autospec=True)
     mocker.patch("grizzly.args.scan_plugins", autospec=True, return_value=targets)
     mocker.patch(
         "grizzly.args.scan_target_assets",
@@ -132,6 +136,7 @@ def test_common_args_03(capsys, mocker, tmp_path, args, msg, targets):
     mocker.patch("grizzly.args.system", autospec=True, return_value="foo")
     fake_bin = tmp_path / "fake.bin"
     fake_bin.touch()
+    fake_bin.with_suffix(fake_bin.suffix + ".fuzzmanagerconf").touch()
     with raises(SystemExit):
         CommonArgs().parse_args(argv=[str(fake_bin)] + args)
     assert msg in capsys.readouterr()[-1]
@@ -160,6 +165,32 @@ def test_common_args_05(mocker):
     assert CommonArgs.is_headless()
 
 
+def test_common_args_06(capsys, mocker, tmp_path):
+    """test CommonArgs fuzzmanager checks"""
+    fake_bin = tmp_path / "bin.exe"
+    fake_bin.touch()
+    bin_config = tmp_path / "bin.exe.fuzzmanagerconf"
+    fm_config = tmp_path / ".fuzzmanagerconf"
+    mocker.patch("grizzly.args.FM_CONFIG", fm_config)
+
+    # missing system .fuzzmanagerconf
+    with raises(SystemExit):
+        CommonArgs().parse_args(argv=[str(fake_bin), "--fuzzmanager"])
+    assert f"--fuzzmanager: missing '{fm_config}'" in capsys.readouterr()[-1]
+
+    fm_config.touch()
+    # missing binary.fuzzmanagerconf
+    with raises(SystemExit):
+        CommonArgs().parse_args(argv=[str(fake_bin), "--fuzzmanager"])
+    assert f"--fuzzmanager: missing '{bin_config}'" in capsys.readouterr()[-1]
+
+    bin_config.touch()
+    # bad binary.fuzzmanagerconf
+    with raises(SystemExit):
+        CommonArgs().parse_args(argv=[str(fake_bin), "--fuzzmanager"])
+    assert '"product" in binary configuration file' in capsys.readouterr()[-1]
+
+
 @mark.parametrize(
     "extra_args, results",
     [
diff --git a/grizzly/test_main.py b/grizzly/test_main.py
index e6de864d..d6b0cc4d 100644
--- a/grizzly/test_main.py
+++ b/grizzly/test_main.py
@@ -35,8 +35,6 @@
         (0, ["--ignore", "timeout"]),
         # headless
         (0, ["--headless"]),
-        # FuzzManager reporter
-        (0, ["--fuzzmanager"]),
         # verbose mode
         (0, ["--verbose"]),
     ],