diff --git a/daemon/libvirtd.c b/daemon/libvirtd.c
index 78dfb2d092ac37f632bda630e2039b33fc09e4b9..03bc1b459a9b0c197f4365cbde4655624dc4be07 100644
--- a/daemon/libvirtd.c
+++ b/daemon/libvirtd.c
@@ -2972,7 +2972,9 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv) {
 
         if (mkdir (rundir, 0755)) {
             if (errno != EEXIST) {
-                VIR_ERROR0 (_("unable to create rundir"));
+                char ebuf[1024];
+                VIR_ERROR(_("unable to create rundir %s: %s"), rundir,
+                          virStrerror(errno, ebuf, sizeof(ebuf)));
                 return -1;
             }
         }