diff --git a/cli/mobycli/scout_suggest.go b/cli/mobycli/scout_suggest.go
index b6f32eb07..2eba13abd 100644
--- a/cli/mobycli/scout_suggest.go
+++ b/cli/mobycli/scout_suggest.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/docker/cli/cli/config"
 	"github.com/docker/compose/v2/pkg/utils"
 
 	"github.com/fatih/color"
@@ -53,10 +54,14 @@ func displayScoutQuickViewSuggestMsg(image string) {
 	}
 	out := os.Stderr
 	b := color.New(color.Bold)
-	_, _ = fmt.Fprintln(out)
-	_, _ = b.Fprintln(out, "What's Next?")
-	_, _ = fmt.Fprintf(out, "  View summary of image vulnerabilities and recommendations → %s", color.CyanString("docker scout quickview%s", image))
-	_, _ = fmt.Fprintln(out)
+
+	_, _ = b.Fprintln(out, "\nWhat's Next?")
+	if !hubLoggedIn() {
+		_, _ = fmt.Fprintf(out, "  View summary of image vulnerabilities and recommendations (login required) → %s\n", color.CyanString("docker scout quickview%s", image))
+		_, _ = fmt.Fprint(out, "  To sign in, use the `docker login` command or sign in via Docker Desktop\n")
+	} else {
+		_, _ = fmt.Fprintf(out, "  View summary of image vulnerabilities and recommendations → %s\n", color.CyanString("docker scout quickview%s", image))
+	}
 }
 
 func pulledImageFromArgs(args []string) string {
@@ -74,3 +79,17 @@ func pulledImageFromArgs(args []string) string {
 	}
 	return image
 }
+
+// hubLoggedIn checks whether the user has credentials configured
+// for Docker Hub. This can be an expensive operation, so use it
+// mindfully.
+func hubLoggedIn() bool {
+	// todo: run this with a timeout, this call can be slow (esp. on Windows)
+	// and we don't want to hang execution here while we check
+	hubAuth, err := config.LoadDefaultConfigFile(nil).GetAuthConfig("index.docker.io")
+	if err != nil {
+		// preserve original behaviour if we fail to fetch creds
+		return true
+	}
+	return hubAuth.Username != ""
+}