diff --git a/daemon/fallocate.c b/daemon/fallocate.c
index eb8414571..20a75e67f 100644
--- a/daemon/fallocate.c
+++ b/daemon/fallocate.c
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ do_fallocate (const char *path, int len)
   fd = open (path, O_WRONLY | O_CREAT | O_TRUNC | O_NOCTTY, 0666);
   CHROOT_OUT;
   if (fd == -1) {
-    reply_with_perror (path);
+    reply_with_perror ("failed to open %s", path);
     return -1;
   }
 
diff --git a/daemon/sfdisk.c b/daemon/sfdisk.c
index 6d49387ac..b68b9f67c 100644
--- a/daemon/sfdisk.c
+++ b/daemon/sfdisk.c
@@ -72,13 +72,13 @@ sfdisk (const char *device, int n, int cyls, int heads, int sectors,
 
   fp = popen (buf, "w");
   if (fp == NULL) {
-    reply_with_perror (buf);
+    reply_with_perror ("failed to open pipe: %s", buf);
     return -1;
   }
 
   for (i = 0; lines[i] != NULL; ++i) {
     if (fprintf (fp, "%s\n", lines[i]) < 0) {
-      reply_with_perror (buf);
+      reply_with_perror ("failed to write to pipe: %s", buf);
       pclose (fp);
       return -1;
     }