diff --git a/awsapi/src/com/cloud/stack/CloudStackClient.java b/awsapi/src/com/cloud/stack/CloudStackClient.java
index d8cabaf214a..ed04737a2ad 100644
--- a/awsapi/src/com/cloud/stack/CloudStackClient.java
+++ b/awsapi/src/com/cloud/stack/CloudStackClient.java
@@ -170,7 +170,16 @@ public class CloudStackClient {
         statusCode = ((HttpURLConnection)connect).getResponseCode();
         if(statusCode >= 400) {
         	logger.error("Cloud API call + [" + url.toString() + "] failed with status code: " + statusCode);
-        	throw new IOException("CloudStack API call HTTP response error, HTTP status code: " + statusCode);
+            String errorMessage = ((HttpURLConnection)connect).getResponseMessage();
+            if(errorMessage == null){
+                errorMessage = connect.getHeaderField("X-Description");
+            }
+            
+            if(errorMessage == null){
+                errorMessage = "CloudStack API call HTTP response error, HTTP status code: " + statusCode;
+            }
+
+        	throw new IOException(errorMessage);
         }
         
         InputStream inputStream = connect.getInputStream();