diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/staticpods.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/staticpods.go
index 524a624c34f..b62b3e15476 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/staticpods.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/phases/upgrade/staticpods.go
@@ -280,8 +280,9 @@ func performEtcdStaticPodUpgrade(certsRenewMgr *renewal.Manager, client clientse
 	// Backing up etcd data store
 	backupEtcdDir := pathMgr.BackupEtcdDir()
 	runningEtcdDir := cfg.Etcd.Local.DataDir
-	if err := kubeadmutil.CopyDir(runningEtcdDir, backupEtcdDir); err != nil {
-		return true, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to back up etcd data")
+	output, err := kubeadmutil.CopyDir(runningEtcdDir, backupEtcdDir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return true, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to back up etcd data, output: %q", output)
 	}
 
 	// Get the desired etcd version. That's either the one specified by the user in cfg.Etcd.Local.ImageTag
@@ -531,9 +532,10 @@ func rollbackEtcdData(cfg *kubeadmapi.InitConfiguration, pathMgr StaticPodPathMa
 	backupEtcdDir := pathMgr.BackupEtcdDir()
 	runningEtcdDir := cfg.Etcd.Local.DataDir
 
-	if err := kubeadmutil.CopyDir(backupEtcdDir, runningEtcdDir); err != nil {
+	output, err := kubeadmutil.CopyDir(backupEtcdDir, runningEtcdDir)
+	if err != nil {
 		// Let the user know there we're problems, but we tried to reçover
-		return errors.Wrapf(err, "couldn't recover etcd database with error, the location of etcd backup: %s ", backupEtcdDir)
+		return errors.Wrapf(err, "couldn't recover etcd database with error, the location of etcd backup: %s, output: %q", backupEtcdDir, output)
 	}
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/copy_unix.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/copy_unix.go
index e2601bc94e8..0d75b09dd0e 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/copy_unix.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/copy_unix.go
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ import (
 )
 
 // CopyDir copies the content of a folder
-func CopyDir(src string, dst string) error {
-	cmd := exec.Command("cp", "-r", src, dst)
-	return cmd.Run()
+func CopyDir(src string, dst string) ([]byte, error) {
+	return exec.Command("cp", "-r", src, dst).CombinedOutput()
 }
diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/copy_windows.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/copy_windows.go
index e689e200432..e20f4f7b936 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/copy_windows.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/copy_windows.go
@@ -24,9 +24,8 @@ import (
 )
 
 // CopyDir copies the content of a folder
-func CopyDir(src string, dst string) error {
+func CopyDir(src string, dst string) ([]byte, error) {
 	// /E Copies directories and subdirectories, including empty ones.
 	// /H Copies hidden and system files also.
-	cmd := exec.Command("xcopy", "/E", "/H", src, dst)
-	return cmd.Run()
+	return exec.Command("xcopy", "/E", "/H", src, dst).CombinedOutput()
 }