diff --git a/log4j-nosql/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/log4j/nosql/appender/mongodb/MongoDbProvider.java b/log4j-nosql/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/log4j/nosql/appender/mongodb/MongoDbProvider.java
index 0d83def..fc83df3 100644
--- a/log4j-nosql/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/log4j/nosql/appender/mongodb/MongoDbProvider.java
+++ b/log4j-nosql/src/main/java/org/apache/logging/log4j/nosql/appender/mongodb/MongoDbProvider.java
@@ -181,9 +181,13 @@ public final class MongoDbProvider implements NoSqlProvider<MongoDbConnection> {
                         + NameUtil.md5(password + MongoDbProvider.class.getName());
                 MongoDbConnection.authenticate(database, username, password);
             } else {
-                LOGGER.error("The database is not already authenticated so you must supply a username and password "
-                        + "for the MongoDB provider.");
-                return null;
+                try {
+                    database.getCollectionNames(); // Check if the database actually requires authentication
+                }
+                catch(Exception e){
+                    LOGGER.error("The database is not already authenticated so you must supply a username and password for the MongoDB provider.");
+                    return null;
+                }
             }
         }