diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/cli/Terminal.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/cli/Terminal.java
index 583eb9cc3a9..9523115b024 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/cli/Terminal.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/common/cli/Terminal.java
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ public abstract class Terminal {
     }
 
     public void printError(Throwable t) {
-        printError("%s", t.getMessage());
+        printError("%s", t.toString());
         if (isDebugEnabled) {
             printStackTrace(t);
         }
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/cli/TerminalTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/cli/TerminalTests.java
index f49e1f3a16e..dcbbc1ed337 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/cli/TerminalTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/common/cli/TerminalTests.java
@@ -19,6 +19,9 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.common.cli;
 
+import java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException;
+import java.util.List;
+
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasItem;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.hasSize;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.is;
@@ -44,10 +47,28 @@ public class TerminalTests extends CliToolTestCase {
         assertPrinted(terminal, Terminal.Verbosity.VERBOSE, "text");
     }
 
+    public void testError() throws Exception {
+        try {
+            // actually throw so we have a stacktrace
+            throw new NoSuchFileException("/path/to/some/file");
+        } catch (NoSuchFileException e) {
+            CaptureOutputTerminal terminal = new CaptureOutputTerminal(Terminal.Verbosity.NORMAL);
+            terminal.printError(e);
+            List<String> output = terminal.getTerminalOutput();
+            assertFalse(output.isEmpty());
+            assertTrue(output.get(0), output.get(0).contains("NoSuchFileException")); // exception class
+            assertTrue(output.get(0), output.get(0).contains("/path/to/some/file")); // message
+            assertEquals(1, output.size());
+
+            // TODO: we should test stack trace is printed in debug mode...except debug is a sysprop instead of
+            // a command line param...maybe it should be VERBOSE instead of a separate debug prop?
+        }
+    }
+
     private void assertPrinted(CaptureOutputTerminal logTerminal, Terminal.Verbosity verbosity, String text) {
         logTerminal.print(verbosity, text);
         assertThat(logTerminal.getTerminalOutput(), hasSize(1));
-        assertThat(logTerminal.getTerminalOutput(), hasItem(is("text")));
+        assertThat(logTerminal.getTerminalOutput(), hasItem(text));
         logTerminal.terminalOutput.clear();
     }