diff --git a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/bazel/repository/starlark/StarlarkBaseExternalContext.java b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/bazel/repository/starlark/StarlarkBaseExternalContext.java
index 263f093549200e..aca498083d16ac 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/bazel/repository/starlark/StarlarkBaseExternalContext.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/google/devtools/build/lib/bazel/repository/starlark/StarlarkBaseExternalContext.java
@@ -970,7 +970,11 @@ public StructImpl downloadAndExtract(
     } catch (IOException e) {
       throw new RepositoryFunctionException(
           new IOException(
-              "Couldn't delete temporary directory (" + downloadDirectory.getPathString() + ")", e),
+              "Couldn't delete temporary directory ("
+                  + downloadDirectory.getPathString()
+                  + "): "
+                  + e.getMessage(),
+              e),
           Transience.TRANSIENT);
     }
     return downloadResult;