diff --git a/src/confd/src/ietf-system.c b/src/confd/src/ietf-system.c
index 01d54f48..ed04df7c 100644
--- a/src/confd/src/ietf-system.c
+++ b/src/confd/src/ietf-system.c
@@ -1071,8 +1071,13 @@ static int change_motd_banner(sr_session_ctx_t *session, uint32_t sub_id, const
 			if (!fp) {
 				rc = -1;
 			} else {
-				if (fwrite(txt, txt_len, sizeof(txt[0]), fp) != txt_len)
+				size_t len = fwrite(txt, sizeof(txt[0]), txt_len, fp);
+
+				if (len != txt_len) {
+					ERROR("failed writing %s, wrote %zu bytes of total %zu",
+					      fn, len, txt_len);
 					rc = -1;
+				}
 				fclose(fp);
 			}