diff --git a/src/infrastructure/setup/PhabricatorSetup.php b/src/infrastructure/setup/PhabricatorSetup.php
index 59648608f6..7fc9c1784c 100644
--- a/src/infrastructure/setup/PhabricatorSetup.php
+++ b/src/infrastructure/setup/PhabricatorSetup.php
@@ -399,12 +399,13 @@ class PhabricatorSetup {
       queryfx($conn_raw, 'SELECT 1');
       self::write(" okay  Connection successful!\n");
     } catch (AphrontQueryConnectionException $ex) {
+      $message = $ex->getMessage();
       self::writeFailure();
       self::write(
-        "Setup failure! Unable to connect to MySQL database ".
-        "'{$conn_host}' with user '{$conn_user}'. Edit Phabricator ".
-        "configuration keys 'mysql.user', 'mysql.host' and 'mysql.pass' to ".
-        "enable Phabricator to connect.");
+        "Setup failure! MySQL exception: {$message} \n".
+        "Edit Phabricator configuration keys 'mysql.user', ".
+        "'mysql.host' and 'mysql.pass' to enable Phabricator ".
+        "to connect.");
       return;
     }