diff --git a/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/CreateImageWizard.tsx b/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/CreateImageWizard.tsx
index 3404c494..e8a8aac2 100644
--- a/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/CreateImageWizard.tsx
+++ b/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/CreateImageWizard.tsx
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ import Azure from './steps/TargetEnvironment/Azure';
 import Gcp from './steps/TargetEnvironment/Gcp';
 import {
   useFilesystemValidation,
+  useFirstBootValidation,
   useDetailsValidation,
 } from './utilities/useValidation';
 import {
@@ -179,9 +180,10 @@ const CreateImageWizard = ({ isEdit }: CreateImageWizardProps) => {
 
   const snapshotStepRequiresChoice = !useLatest && !snapshotDate;
 
-  const detailsValidation = useDetailsValidation();
-  const fileSystemValidation = useFilesystemValidation();
   const [filesystemPristine, setFilesystemPristine] = useState(true);
+  const fileSystemValidation = useFilesystemValidation();
+  const firstBootValidation = useFirstBootValidation();
+  const detailsValidation = useDetailsValidation();
 
   let startIndex = 1; // default index
   if (isEdit) {
@@ -192,7 +194,9 @@ const CreateImageWizard = ({ isEdit }: CreateImageWizardProps) => {
     }
   }
 
-  const detailsNavItem = (
+  // Duplicating some of the logic from the Wizard component to allow for custom nav items status
+  // for original code see https://github.com/patternfly/patternfly-react/blob/184c55f8d10e1d94ffd72e09212db56c15387c5e/packages/react-core/src/components/Wizard/WizardNavInternal.tsx#L128
+  const customStatusNavItem = (
     step: WizardStepType,
     activeStep: WizardStepType,
     steps: WizardStepType[],
@@ -203,6 +207,11 @@ const CreateImageWizard = ({ isEdit }: CreateImageWizardProps) => {
       (s) => s.index > step.index && s.isVisited
     );
 
+    // Only this code is different from the original
+    const status =
+      (step.isVisited && step.id !== activeStep?.id && step.status) ||
+      'default';
+
     return (
       <WizardNavItem
         key={step.id}
@@ -216,10 +225,7 @@ const CreateImageWizard = ({ isEdit }: CreateImageWizardProps) => {
         isVisited={step.isVisited}
         stepIndex={step.index}
         onClick={() => goToStepByIndex(step.index)}
-        status={
-          (step.isVisited && step.id !== activeStep?.id && step.status) ||
-          'default'
-        }
+        status={status}
       />
     );
   };
@@ -400,7 +406,13 @@ const CreateImageWizard = ({ isEdit }: CreateImageWizardProps) => {
               name="First boot script configuration"
               id="wizard-first-boot"
               key="wizard-first-boot"
-              footer={<CustomWizardFooter disableNext={false} />}
+              navItem={customStatusNavItem}
+              status={firstBootValidation.disabledNext ? 'error' : 'default'}
+              footer={
+                <CustomWizardFooter
+                  disableNext={firstBootValidation.disabledNext}
+                />
+              }
             >
               <FirstBootStep />
             </WizardStep>
@@ -409,7 +421,7 @@ const CreateImageWizard = ({ isEdit }: CreateImageWizardProps) => {
             name="Details"
             id={'step-details'}
             isDisabled={snapshotStepRequiresChoice}
-            navItem={detailsNavItem}
+            navItem={customStatusNavItem}
             status={detailsValidation.disabledNext ? 'error' : 'default'}
             footer={
               <CustomWizardFooter
diff --git a/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/steps/FirstBoot/index.tsx b/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/steps/FirstBoot/index.tsx
index 08e79ae9..74fe70c2 100644
--- a/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/steps/FirstBoot/index.tsx
+++ b/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/steps/FirstBoot/index.tsx
@@ -1,13 +1,23 @@
 import React from 'react';
 
 import { CodeEditor, Language } from '@patternfly/react-code-editor';
-import { Text, Form, Title, Alert } from '@patternfly/react-core';
+import {
+  Text,
+  Form,
+  FormGroup,
+  FormHelperText,
+  Title,
+  Alert,
+  HelperText,
+  HelperTextItem,
+} from '@patternfly/react-core';
 
 import { useAppDispatch, useAppSelector } from '../../../../store/hooks';
 import {
   selectFirstBootScript,
   setFirstBootScript,
 } from '../../../../store/wizardSlice';
+import { useFirstBootValidation } from '../../utilities/useValidation';
 
 const detectScriptType = (scriptString: string): Language => {
   const lines = scriptString.split('\n');
@@ -32,6 +42,7 @@ const FirstBootStep = () => {
   const dispatch = useAppDispatch();
   const selectedScript = useAppSelector(selectFirstBootScript);
   const language = detectScriptType(selectedScript);
+  const { errors } = useFirstBootValidation();
 
   return (
     <Form>
@@ -55,20 +66,31 @@ const FirstBootStep = () => {
           privacy.
         </Text>
       </Alert>
-      <CodeEditor
-        isUploadEnabled
-        isDownloadEnabled
-        isCopyEnabled
-        isLanguageLabelVisible
-        language={language}
-        onCodeChange={(code) => dispatch(setFirstBootScript(code))}
-        code={selectedScript}
-        height="35vh"
-        emptyStateButton={<span data-testid="firstboot_browse">Browse</span>}
-        emptyStateLink={
-          <span data-testid="firstboot_write_manual">Start from scratch</span>
-        }
-      />
+      <FormGroup>
+        <CodeEditor
+          isUploadEnabled
+          isDownloadEnabled
+          isCopyEnabled
+          isLanguageLabelVisible
+          language={language}
+          onCodeChange={(code) => dispatch(setFirstBootScript(code))}
+          code={selectedScript}
+          height="35vh"
+          emptyStateButton={<span data-testid="firstboot_browse">Browse</span>}
+          emptyStateLink={
+            <span data-testid="firstboot_write_manual">Start from scratch</span>
+          }
+        />
+        {errors.script && (
+          <FormHelperText>
+            <HelperText>
+              <HelperTextItem variant="error" hasIcon>
+                {errors.script}
+              </HelperTextItem>
+            </HelperText>
+          </FormHelperText>
+        )}
+      </FormGroup>
     </Form>
   );
 };
diff --git a/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/utilities/useValidation.tsx b/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/utilities/useValidation.tsx
index 2d6c6ef1..e07f34a8 100644
--- a/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/utilities/useValidation.tsx
+++ b/src/Components/CreateImageWizard/utilities/useValidation.tsx
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import {
   selectBlueprintName,
   selectBlueprintDescription,
   selectFileSystemPartitionMode,
+  selectFirstBootScript,
   selectPartitions,
 } from '../../../store/wizardSlice';
 import {
@@ -28,8 +29,11 @@ export type StepValidation = {
 
 export function useIsBlueprintValid(): boolean {
   const filesystem = useFilesystemValidation();
+  const firstBoot = useFirstBootValidation();
   const details = useDetailsValidation();
-  return !filesystem.disabledNext && !details.disabledNext;
+  return (
+    !filesystem.disabledNext && !firstBoot.disabledNext && !details.disabledNext
+  );
 }
 
 export function useFilesystemValidation(): StepValidation {
@@ -56,6 +60,21 @@ export function useFilesystemValidation(): StepValidation {
   return { errors, disabledNext };
 }
 
+export function useFirstBootValidation(): StepValidation {
+  const script = useAppSelector(selectFirstBootScript);
+  let hasShebang = false;
+  if (script) {
+    hasShebang = script.split('\n')[0].startsWith('#!');
+  }
+  const valid = !script || hasShebang;
+  return {
+    errors: {
+      script: valid ? '' : 'Missing shebang at first line, e.g. #!/bin/bash',
+    },
+    disabledNext: !valid,
+  };
+}
+
 export function useDetailsValidation(): StepValidation {
   const name = useAppSelector(selectBlueprintName);
   const description = useAppSelector(selectBlueprintDescription);
diff --git a/src/test/Components/CreateImageWizard/steps/FirstBoot/Firstboot.test.tsx b/src/test/Components/CreateImageWizard/steps/FirstBoot/Firstboot.test.tsx
index 3e65d1ac..0d4bd164 100644
--- a/src/test/Components/CreateImageWizard/steps/FirstBoot/Firstboot.test.tsx
+++ b/src/test/Components/CreateImageWizard/steps/FirstBoot/Firstboot.test.tsx
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ import {
   firstBootCreateBlueprintRequest,
   firstBootData,
 } from '../../../../fixtures/editMode';
-import { clickNext } from '../../../../testUtils';
+import { clickNext, getNextButton } from '../../../../testUtils';
 import {
   blueprintRequest,
   clickRegisterLater,
@@ -104,6 +104,22 @@ describe('First Boot step', () => {
     await goToFirstBootStep();
     await screen.findByText('First boot configuration');
   });
+
+  // test('should validate shebang', async () => {
+  //   await renderCreateMode();
+  //   await goToFirstBootStep();
+  //   await openCodeEditor();
+  //   const editor = await screen.findByRole('textbox');
+  //   await userEvent.type(editor, 'echo "Hello, world!"');
+  //   expect(await screen.findByText('Missing shebang')).toBeInTheDocument();
+  //   expect(await getNextButton()).toBeDisabled();
+
+  //   await userEvent.clear(editor);
+  //   await userEvent.type(editor, '#!/bin/bash');
+  //   expect(screen.queryByText('Missing shebang')).not.toBeInTheDocument();
+  //   expect(await getNextButton()).toBeEnabled();
+  // });
+
   //  describe('validate first boot request ', () => {
   //    test('should validate first boot request', async () => {
   //      await renderCreateMode();