diff --git a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
index 1091cea3887..0c377086d2b 100644
--- a/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
+++ b/cmd/kube-apiserver/app/server.go
@@ -452,7 +452,8 @@ func BuildGenericConfig(s *options.ServerRunOptions, proxyTransport *http.Transp
 		// groups. This leads to a nil client above and undefined behaviour further down.
 		//
 		// TODO: get rid of KUBE_API_VERSIONS or define sane behaviour if set
-		glog.Errorf("Failed to create clientset with KUBE_API_VERSIONS=%q. KUBE_API_VERSIONS is only for testing. Things will break.", kubeAPIVersions)
+		glog.Errorf("Failed to create clientset with KUBE_API_VERSIONS=%q: %v. KUBE_API_VERSIONS is only for testing. Things will break.",
+			kubeAPIVersions, err)
 	}
 
 	kubeClientConfig := genericConfig.LoopbackClientConfig
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/apiserver.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/apiserver.go
index 1415ff8d98a..56e95f15083 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/apiserver.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apiserver/apiserver.go
@@ -162,7 +162,8 @@ func (c completedConfig) New(delegationTarget genericapiserver.DelegationTarget)
 		// groups. This leads to a nil client above and undefined behaviour further down.
 		//
 		// TODO: get rid of KUBE_API_VERSIONS or define sane behaviour if set
-		glog.Errorf("Failed to create clientset with KUBE_API_VERSIONS=%q. KUBE_API_VERSIONS is only for testing. Things will break.", kubeAPIVersions)
+		glog.Errorf("Failed to create clientset with KUBE_API_VERSIONS=%q: %v. KUBE_API_VERSIONS is only for testing. Things will break.",
+			kubeAPIVersions, err)
 	}
 	s.Informers = internalinformers.NewSharedInformerFactory(crdClient, 5*time.Minute)