diff --git a/src/lay/laySaltGrain.cc b/src/lay/laySaltGrain.cc
index 83ed47e4f..d39664ad5 100644
--- a/src/lay/laySaltGrain.cc
+++ b/src/lay/laySaltGrain.cc
@@ -337,7 +337,9 @@ SaltGrain::xml_struct ()
 bool
 SaltGrain::is_readonly () const
 {
-  return !QFileInfo (tl::to_qstring (path ())).isWritable ();
+  //  A grain is readonly if the directory is not writable or there is a download URL
+  //  (this means the grain has been installed from an URL).
+  return !QFileInfo (tl::to_qstring (path ())).isWritable () || !m_url.empty ();
 }
 
 void
diff --git a/src/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc b/src/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc
index 6fb4dc59c..d71be4edb 100644
--- a/src/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc
+++ b/src/lay/laySaltManagerDialog.cc
@@ -512,7 +512,10 @@ SaltManagerDialog::edit_properties ()
 {
   SaltGrain *g = current_grain ();
   if (g) {
-    if (mp_properties_dialog->exec_dialog (g, mp_salt)) {
+    if (g->is_readonly ()) {
+      QMessageBox::critical (this, tr ("Package is not Editable"),
+                                   tr ("This package cannot be edited.\n\nEither you don't have write permissions on the directory or the package was installed from a repository."));
+    } else if (mp_properties_dialog->exec_dialog (g, mp_salt)) {
       current_changed ();
     }
   }