diff --git a/src/util/virstoragefile.c b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
index 46aff923047c0fbb564dbb2b82a3644e0e90bdb9..c9d3977f30011d9c7b928612a5b1fa50f1176f31 100644
--- a/src/util/virstoragefile.c
+++ b/src/util/virstoragefile.c
@@ -1390,7 +1390,8 @@ virStorageFileChainLookup(virStorageSourcePtr chain,
  error:
     if (idx) {
         virReportError(VIR_ERR_INVALID_ARG,
-                       _("could not find backing store %u in chain for '%s'"),
+                       _("could not find backing store index %u in chain "
+                         "for '%s'"),
                        idx, NULLSTR(start));
     } else if (name) {
         if (startFrom)