diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/RemoteExecutionService.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/RemoteExecutionService.java
index c3d612d5441ad2..c7d5738440ab39 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/RemoteExecutionService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/RemoteExecutionService.java
@@ -1278,11 +1278,7 @@ public InMemoryOutput downloadOutputs(RemoteAction action, RemoteActionResult re
               && !metadata.directories.containsKey(localPath)
               && !metadata.symlinks.containsKey(localPath)) {
             throw new IOException(
-                "Invalid action cache entry "
-                    + action.getActionKey().getDigest().getHash()
-                    + ": expected output "
-                    + prettyPrint(output)
-                    + " does not exist.");
+                String.format("mandatory output %s was not created", prettyPrint(output)));
           }
         }
       }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/RemoteExecutionServiceTest.java b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/RemoteExecutionServiceTest.java
index ba248509355da4..e39c754d5da2cf 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/RemoteExecutionServiceTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/remote/RemoteExecutionServiceTest.java
@@ -1542,7 +1542,7 @@ public void downloadOutputs_missingMandatoryOutputs_reportError() throws Excepti
     IOException error =
         assertThrows(IOException.class, () -> service.downloadOutputs(action, result));
 
-    assertThat(error).hasMessageThat().containsMatch("expected output .+ does not exist.");
+    assertThat(error).hasMessageThat().containsMatch("mandatory output .+ was not created");
   }
 
   @Test