diff --git a/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/shell/commands.rb b/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/shell/commands.rb
index 1b8de9e7f2b..990e978dde2 100644
--- a/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/shell/commands.rb
+++ b/hbase-shell/src/main/ruby/shell/commands.rb
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ module Shell
         yield
       rescue => cause
         # let individual command handle exceptions first
+        cause = cause.getCause if cause.is_a? java.io.UncheckedIOException
         handle_exceptions(cause, *args) if respond_to?(:handle_exceptions)
         # Global HBase exception handling below if not handled by respective command above
         if cause.is_a?(org.apache.hadoop.hbase.TableNotFoundException)