diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/verify_student/management/commands/retry_failed_photo_verifications.py b/lms/djangoapps/verify_student/management/commands/retry_failed_photo_verifications.py
index d75e5a6335..515c3ad8eb 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/verify_student/management/commands/retry_failed_photo_verifications.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/verify_student/management/commands/retry_failed_photo_verifications.py
@@ -46,7 +46,8 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
 
         sspv_retry_config = SSPVerificationRetryConfig.current()
         if not sspv_retry_config.enabled:
-            raise CommandError('SSPVerificationRetryConfig is disabled, but --args-from-database was requested.')
+            log.warning('SSPVerificationRetryConfig is disabled or empty, but --args-from-database was requested.')
+            return {}
 
         # We don't need fancy shell-style whitespace/quote handling - none of our arguments are complicated
         argv = sspv_retry_config.arguments.split()
diff --git a/lms/djangoapps/verify_student/management/commands/tests/test_verify_student.py b/lms/djangoapps/verify_student/management/commands/tests/test_verify_student.py
index 986aa2ffe2..6fdc032b52 100644
--- a/lms/djangoapps/verify_student/management/commands/tests/test_verify_student.py
+++ b/lms/djangoapps/verify_student/management/commands/tests/test_verify_student.py
@@ -73,10 +73,14 @@ class TestVerifyStudentCommand(MockS3Mixin, TestCase):
         """Test management command arguments injected from config model."""
         # Nothing in the database, should default to disabled
 
-        # pylint: disable=deprecated-method, useless-suppression
-        with self.assertRaisesRegex(CommandError, 'SSPVerificationRetryConfig is disabled*'):
+        with LogCapture(LOGGER_NAME) as log:
             call_command('retry_failed_photo_verifications', '--args-from-database')
-
+            log.check_present(
+                (
+                    LOGGER_NAME, 'WARNING',
+                    u"SSPVerificationRetryConfig is disabled or empty, but --args-from-database was requested."
+                ),
+            )
         # Add a config
         config = SSPVerificationRetryConfig.current()
         config.arguments = '--verification-ids 1 2 3'