diff --git a/src/arch/arm/kvm/base_cpu.cc b/src/arch/arm/kvm/base_cpu.cc
index 1c4dd16208..d5c76aa261 100644
--- a/src/arch/arm/kvm/base_cpu.cc
+++ b/src/arch/arm/kvm/base_cpu.cc
@@ -220,7 +220,8 @@ void
 BaseArmKvmCPU::kvmArmVCpuInit(const struct kvm_vcpu_init &init)
 {
     if (ioctl(KVM_ARM_VCPU_INIT, (void *)&init) == -1)
-        panic("KVM: Failed to initialize vCPU\n");
+        panic("KVM: Failed to initialize vCPU; errno %d (%s)\n",
+            errno, strerror(errno));
 }
 
 bool