diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Tools/DoctrineSetup.php b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Tools/DoctrineSetup.php
index 45e0488954b..8aa4e04be89 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Tools/DoctrineSetup.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/Tools/DoctrineSetup.php
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Driver\AttributeDriver;
 use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Driver\XmlDriver;
 use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Driver\YamlDriver;
+use LogicException;
 use Memcached;
 use Psr\Cache\CacheItemPoolInterface;
 use Redis;
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@
 use function class_exists;
 use function extension_loaded;
 use function md5;
+use function sprintf;
 use function sys_get_temp_dir;
 
 final class DoctrineSetup
@@ -54,6 +56,14 @@ public static function createDefaultAnnotationDriver(
         array $paths = [],
         ?CacheItemPoolInterface $cache = null
     ): AnnotationDriver {
+        if (! class_exists(AnnotationReader::class)) {
+            throw new LogicException(sprintf(
+                'The annotation metadata driver cannot be enabled because the "doctrine/annotations" library'
+                . ' is not installed. Please run "composer require doctrine/annotations" or choose a different'
+                . ' metadata driver.'
+            ));
+        }
+
         $reader = new AnnotationReader();
 
         if ($cache === null && class_exists(ArrayAdapter::class)) {
diff --git a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Tools/DoctrineSetupTest.php b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Tools/DoctrineSetupTest.php
index 0ec3c83ff73..9052a90a12e 100644
--- a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Tools/DoctrineSetupTest.php
+++ b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/ORM/Tools/DoctrineSetupTest.php
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Driver\XmlDriver;
 use Doctrine\ORM\Mapping\Driver\YamlDriver;
 use Doctrine\ORM\Tools\DoctrineSetup;
+use LogicException;
 use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
 use ReflectionClass;
 use ReflectionProperty;
@@ -62,6 +63,19 @@ public function testAttributeConfiguration(): void
         self::assertInstanceOf(AttributeDriver::class, $config->getMetadataDriverImpl());
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @requires PHP < 8
+     */
+    public function testAttributeConfigurationFailsOnPHP7(): void
+    {
+        self::expectException(LogicException::class);
+        self::expectExceptionMessage(
+            'The attribute metadata driver cannot be enabled on PHP 7. Please upgrade to PHP 8 or choose a different metadata driver.'
+        );
+
+        DoctrineSetup::createAttributeMetadataConfiguration([], true);
+    }
+
     public function testXMLConfiguration(): void
     {
         $config = DoctrineSetup::createXMLMetadataConfiguration([], true);