diff --git a/migration/vmstate.c b/migration/vmstate.c
index 2f9d4ba160..8ddd2302ea 100644
--- a/migration/vmstate.c
+++ b/migration/vmstate.c
@@ -85,6 +85,9 @@ int vmstate_load_state(QEMUFile *f, const VMStateDescription *vmsd,
 
     trace_vmstate_load_state(vmsd->name, version_id);
     if (version_id > vmsd->version_id) {
+        error_report("%s: incoming version_id %d is too new "
+                     "for local version_id %d",
+                     vmsd->name, version_id, vmsd->version_id);
         trace_vmstate_load_state_end(vmsd->name, "too new", -EINVAL);
         return -EINVAL;
     }
@@ -95,6 +98,9 @@ int vmstate_load_state(QEMUFile *f, const VMStateDescription *vmsd,
             trace_vmstate_load_state_end(vmsd->name, "old path", ret);
             return ret;
         }
+        error_report("%s: incoming version_id %d is too old "
+                     "for local minimum version_id  %d",
+                     vmsd->name, version_id, vmsd->minimum_version_id);
         trace_vmstate_load_state_end(vmsd->name, "too old", -EINVAL);
         return -EINVAL;
     }