diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
index 1e76a3b811a..3831fe47036 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/CHANGES.txt
@@ -60,6 +60,9 @@ Release 2.7.0 - UNRELEASED
 
   BUG FIXES
 
+    HDFS-6741. Improve permission denied message when
+    FSPermissionChecker#checkOwner fails (Stephen Chu and harsh).
+
     HDFS-6538. Comment format error in ShortCircuitRegistry javadoc.
     (David Luo via harsh).
 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSPermissionChecker.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSPermissionChecker.java
index 5b7804b40e7..2c48051142a 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSPermissionChecker.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/FSPermissionChecker.java
@@ -198,7 +198,9 @@ class FSPermissionChecker {
     if (inode != null && user.equals(inode.getUserName(snapshotId))) {
       return;
     }
-    throw new AccessControlException("Permission denied");
+    throw new AccessControlException(
+            "Permission denied. user="
+            + user + " is not the owner of inode=" + inode);
   }
 
   /** Guarded by {@link FSNamesystem#readLock()} */
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSPermission.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSPermission.java
index 68349a2ac67..23ce916ae11 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSPermission.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/TestDFSPermission.java
@@ -443,7 +443,11 @@ public class TestDFSPermission {
       fs.access(p1, FsAction.WRITE);
       fail("The access call should have failed.");
     } catch (AccessControlException e) {
-      // expected
+      assertTrue("Permission denied messages must carry the username",
+              e.getMessage().contains(USER1_NAME));
+      assertTrue("Permission denied messages must carry the path parent",
+              e.getMessage().contains(
+                  p1.getParent().toUri().getPath()));
     }
 
     Path badPath = new Path("/bad/bad");
@@ -473,7 +477,11 @@ public class TestDFSPermission {
       fs.access(p2, FsAction.EXECUTE);
       fail("The access call should have failed.");
     } catch (AccessControlException e) {
-      // expected
+      assertTrue("Permission denied messages must carry the username",
+              e.getMessage().contains(USER1_NAME));
+      assertTrue("Permission denied messages must carry the path parent",
+              e.getMessage().contains(
+                  p2.getParent().toUri().getPath()));
     }
   }
 
@@ -494,7 +502,11 @@ public class TestDFSPermission {
       fs.access(p3, FsAction.READ_WRITE);
       fail("The access call should have failed.");
     } catch (AccessControlException e) {
-      // expected
+      assertTrue("Permission denied messages must carry the username",
+              e.getMessage().contains(USER1_NAME));
+      assertTrue("Permission denied messages must carry the path parent",
+              e.getMessage().contains(
+                  p3.getParent().toUri().getPath()));
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFSPermissionChecker.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFSPermissionChecker.java
index 9bee4a9bffb..c2ca9838c91 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFSPermissionChecker.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/TestFSPermissionChecker.java
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import static org.apache.hadoop.fs.permission.FsAction.WRITE;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.fs.permission.FsAction.WRITE_EXECUTE;
 import static org.apache.hadoop.hdfs.server.namenode.AclTestHelpers.aclEntry;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
 import static org.mockito.Matchers.any;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.doAnswer;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.mock;
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.permission.AclEntry;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.permission.FsAction;
 import org.apache.hadoop.fs.permission.FsPermission;
@@ -412,7 +414,11 @@ public class TestFSPermissionChecker {
       fail("expected AccessControlException for user + " + user + ", path = " +
         path + ", access = " + access);
     } catch (AccessControlException e) {
-      // expected
+      assertTrue("Permission denied messages must carry the username",
+              e.getMessage().contains(user.getUserName().toString()));
+      assertTrue("Permission denied messages must carry the path parent",
+              e.getMessage().contains(
+                  new Path(path).getParent().toUri().getPath()));
     }
   }