diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index b0af532..d00af3b 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -377,10 +377,10 @@ dependencies = [
  "local-ip-address",
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
+ "snafu 0.8.5",
  "stackable-operator",
  "sysinfo",
  "tracing",
- "users",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -2639,6 +2639,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "memchr",
  "ntapi",
  "rayon",
+ "serde",
  "windows",
 ]
 
@@ -3054,16 +3055,6 @@ dependencies = [
  "serde",
 ]
 
-[[package]]
-name = "users"
-version = "0.11.0"
-source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
-checksum = "24cc0f6d6f267b73e5a2cadf007ba8f9bc39c6a6f9666f8cf25ea809a153b032"
-dependencies = [
- "libc",
- "log",
-]
-
 [[package]]
 name = "utf16_iter"
 version = "1.0.5"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index c71b7c8..4ec3e91 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -10,10 +10,10 @@ hickory-resolver = "0.24.1"
 local-ip-address = "0.6.3"
 serde = { version = "1.0.210", features = ["derive"] }
 serde_json = "1.0.128"
+snafu = "0.8.5"
 stackable-operator = { git = "https://github.com/stackabletech/operator-rs", tag = "stackable-operator-0.83.0" }
-sysinfo = "0.32.0"
+sysinfo = { version = "0.32.0", features = ["serde"] }
 tracing = "0.1.40"
-users = "0.11.0"
 
 [build-dependencies]
 built = { version = "0.7", features = ["chrono", "git2"] }
diff --git a/src/error.rs b/src/error.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f231a76
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/error.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+use serde::Serialize;
+use snafu::Snafu;
+
+/// Wrapped version of the errors returned by [`sysinfo`], since they are bare [`str`]s.
+#[derive(Debug, Snafu)]
+#[snafu(display("{msg}"))]
+pub struct SysinfoError {
+    pub msg: &'static str,
+}
+
+/// Wraps errors returned by a component to present them consistently for serialization.
+#[derive(Debug, Serialize)]
+#[serde(untagged)]
+pub enum ComponentResult<T> {
+    Ok(T),
+    Err {
+        #[serde(rename = "$error")]
+        inner: ComponentError,
+    },
+}
+impl<T> ComponentResult<T> {
+    #[track_caller]
+    pub fn report_from_result<E: std::error::Error + 'static>(
+        component: &str,
+        result: Result<T, E>,
+    ) -> ComponentResult<T> {
+        match result {
+            Ok(x) => ComponentResult::Ok(x),
+            Err(err) => {
+                tracing::error!(
+                    error = &err as &dyn std::error::Error,
+                    "error reported by {component}, ignoring...",
+                );
+                err.source();
+                ComponentResult::Err {
+                    inner: ComponentError {
+                        message: err.to_string(),
+                        causes: std::iter::successors(err.source(), |err| err.source())
+                            .map(|err| err.to_string())
+                            .collect(),
+                    },
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}
+#[derive(Debug, Serialize)]
+pub struct ComponentError {
+    message: String,
+    causes: Vec<String>,
+}
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 8bb46e0..cd142e0 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+mod error;
 mod system_information;
 
 use clap::{crate_description, crate_version, Parser};
diff --git a/src/system_information/mod.rs b/src/system_information/mod.rs
index ef5672a..a37bd1d 100644
--- a/src/system_information/mod.rs
+++ b/src/system_information/mod.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 use serde::Serialize;
 
+use crate::error::ComponentResult;
+
 pub mod disk;
 pub mod network;
 pub mod os;
@@ -10,7 +12,7 @@ pub mod user;
 pub struct SystemInformation {
     pub resources: resources::Resources,
     pub os: os::OperatingSystem,
-    pub current_user: user::User,
+    pub current_user: ComponentResult<user::User>,
     pub disks: Vec<disk::Disk>,
     pub network: network::SystemNetworkInfo,
     // TODO:
@@ -34,10 +36,19 @@ impl SystemInformation {
     #[tracing::instrument(name = "SystemInformation::collect")]
     pub fn collect() -> Self {
         tracing::info!("Starting data collection");
+
+        // Please note that we use "new_all" to ensure that all list of
+        // components, network interfaces, disks and users are already
+        // filled!
+        let sys = sysinfo::System::new_all();
+
         let info = Self {
-            resources: resources::Resources::collect(),
+            resources: resources::Resources::collect(&sys),
             os: os::OperatingSystem::collect(),
-            current_user: user::User::collect_current(),
+            current_user: ComponentResult::report_from_result(
+                "User::collect_current",
+                user::User::collect_current(&sys),
+            ),
             disks: disk::Disk::collect_all(),
             network: network::SystemNetworkInfo::collect(),
         };
diff --git a/src/system_information/resources.rs b/src/system_information/resources.rs
index a2e6da1..ab7101c 100644
--- a/src/system_information/resources.rs
+++ b/src/system_information/resources.rs
@@ -21,16 +21,11 @@ pub struct Resources {
 }
 
 impl Resources {
-    #[tracing::instrument(name = "Resources::collect")]
-    pub fn collect() -> Self {
+    #[tracing::instrument(name = "Resources::collect", skip(sys))]
+    pub fn collect(sys: &System) -> Self {
         // This style of "declare-then-log-then-merge becomes a bit verbose,
         // but should help keep each log statement local to where that info is collected.
 
-        // Please note that we use "new_all" to ensure that all list of
-        // components, network interfaces, disks and users are already
-        // filled!
-        let sys = System::new_all();
-
         let cpu_count = sys.cpus().len();
         let physical_core_count = sys.physical_core_count();
         tracing::info!(
diff --git a/src/system_information/user.rs b/src/system_information/user.rs
index 5c69ecc..1719f38 100644
--- a/src/system_information/user.rs
+++ b/src/system_information/user.rs
@@ -1,21 +1,47 @@
 use serde::Serialize;
+use snafu::{OptionExt, ResultExt, Snafu};
+use sysinfo::{Gid, Pid, Uid};
+
+use crate::error::SysinfoError;
+
+#[derive(Debug, Snafu)]
+pub enum Error {
+    #[snafu(display("failed to get pid of the current process"))]
+    GetCurrentPid { source: SysinfoError },
+    #[snafu(display("current pid {pid} could not be resolved to a proess"))]
+    ResolveCurrentProcess { pid: Pid },
+}
+type Result<T, E = Error> = std::result::Result<T, E>;
 
 #[derive(Debug, Serialize)]
 pub struct User {
     pub name: Option<String>, // The name of the current user
-    pub uid: u32,             // The user ID (UID)
-    pub gid: u32,             // The group ID (GID)
+    pub uid: Option<Uid>,     // The user ID (UID)
+    pub gid: Option<Gid>,     // The group ID (GID)
 }
 
 impl User {
-    pub fn collect_current() -> Self {
-        let uid = users::get_current_uid();
+    #[tracing::instrument(name = "User::collect_current", skip(sys))]
+    pub fn collect_current(sys: &sysinfo::System) -> Result<Self> {
+        let pid = sysinfo::get_current_pid()
+            .map_err(|msg| SysinfoError { msg })
+            .context(GetCurrentPidSnafu)?;
+        let current_process = sys
+            .process(pid)
+            .context(ResolveCurrentProcessSnafu { pid })?;
+        let uid = current_process.user_id();
+        let os_users = sysinfo::Users::new_with_refreshed_list();
         let user = Self {
-            name: users::get_user_by_uid(uid).map(|user| user.name().to_string_lossy().to_string()),
-            uid,
-            gid: users::get_current_gid(),
+            name: uid.and_then(|uid| Some(os_users.get_user_by_id(uid)?.name().to_string())),
+            uid: uid.cloned(),
+            gid: current_process.group_id(),
         };
-        tracing::info!(user.name, user.uid, user.gid, "current user");
-        user
+        tracing::info!(
+            user.name,
+            user.uid = user.uid.as_ref().map(|uid| format!("{uid:?}")),
+            user.gid = user.uid.as_ref().map(|gid| format!("{gid:?}")),
+            "current user"
+        );
+        Ok(user)
     }
 }