diff --git a/savevm.c b/savevm.c
index a50fd31..6e026a8 100644
--- a/savevm.c
+++ b/savevm.c
@@ -1996,6 +1996,8 @@ int load_vmstate(const char *name)
     if (ret < 0) {
         return ret;
     } else if (sn.vm_state_size == 0) {
+        error_report("This is a disk-only snapshot. Revert to it offline "
+            "using qemu-img.");
         return -EINVAL;
     }