diff --git a/vl.c b/vl.c
index d6fd95c227d1e98096c0f1b0df356fc6196e1c05..611d8878c60181f33e3ef4f96033d1dad371015c 100644
--- a/vl.c
+++ b/vl.c
@@ -2250,8 +2250,10 @@ static int parse_fw_cfg(void *opaque, QemuOpts *opts, Error **errp)
         size = strlen(str); /* NUL terminator NOT included in fw_cfg blob */
         buf = g_memdup(str, size);
     } else {
-        if (!g_file_get_contents(file, &buf, &size, NULL)) {
-            error_setg(errp, "can't load %s", file);
+        GError *err = NULL;
+        if (!g_file_get_contents(file, &buf, &size, &err)) {
+            error_setg(errp, "can't load %s: %s", file, err->message);
+            g_error_free(err);
             return -1;
         }
     }