diff --git a/samcli/lib/samlib/cloudformation_command.py b/samcli/lib/samlib/cloudformation_command.py
index 93914827ad..dd3953bc92 100644
--- a/samcli/lib/samlib/cloudformation_command.py
+++ b/samcli/lib/samlib/cloudformation_command.py
@@ -47,4 +47,4 @@ def find_executable(execname):
         except OSError as ex:
             LOG.debug("Unable to find executable %s", name, exc_info=ex)
 
-    raise OSError("Unable to find AWS CLI installation under following names: {}".format(options))
+    raise OSError("Cannot find AWS CLI installation, was looking at executables with names: {}".format(options))
diff --git a/tests/unit/lib/samlib/test_cloudformation_command.py b/tests/unit/lib/samlib/test_cloudformation_command.py
index 7aa3248529..1f058a5df1 100644
--- a/tests/unit/lib/samlib/test_cloudformation_command.py
+++ b/tests/unit/lib/samlib/test_cloudformation_command.py
@@ -111,7 +111,8 @@ def test_must_raise_error_if_executable_not_found(self, platform_system_mock, po
         with self.assertRaises(OSError) as ctx:
             find_executable(execname)
 
-        expected = "Unable to find AWS CLI installation under following names: {}".format(["foo.cmd", "foo.exe", "foo"])
+        expected = "Cannot find AWS CLI installation, was looking at executables with names: {}".format(
+            ["foo.cmd", "foo.exe", "foo"])
         self.assertEquals(expected, str(ctx.exception))
 
         self.assertEquals(popen_mock.mock_calls, [