diff --git a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
index a3e645d1197..b9ac5a369bf 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.next.asciidoc
@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v7.0.0-alpha2...master[Check the HEAD d
 - Fix metrics hints builder to avoid wrong container metadata usage when port is not exposed {pull}18979[18979]
 - Server-side TLS config now validates certificate and key are both specified {pull}19584[19584]
 - Fix seccomp policy for calls to `chmod` and `chown`. {pull}20054[20054]
+- Output errors when Kibana index pattern setup fails. {pull}20121[20121]
 
 *Auditbeat*
 
diff --git a/libbeat/dashboards/importer.go b/libbeat/dashboards/importer.go
index bf08fcd327f..0c56d073d91 100644
--- a/libbeat/dashboards/importer.go
+++ b/libbeat/dashboards/importer.go
@@ -305,7 +305,9 @@ func (imp Importer) ImportKibanaDir(dir string) error {
 
 	// Loads the internal index pattern
 	if imp.fields != nil {
-		imp.loader.ImportIndex(imp.fields)
+		if err = imp.loader.ImportIndex(imp.fields); err != nil {
+			return errw.Wrap(err, "failed to import Kibana index pattern")
+		}
 	}
 
 	dir = path.Join(dir, versionPath)