diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java
index 484958e3c3..c4e99b1833 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/MiniDFSCluster.java
@@ -2159,10 +2159,11 @@ public void shutdown(boolean deleteDfsDir, boolean closeFileSystem) {
     LOG.info("Shutting down the Mini HDFS Cluster");
     if (checkExitOnShutdown)  {
       if (ExitUtil.terminateCalled()) {
-        LOG.error("Test resulted in an unexpected exit",
-            ExitUtil.getFirstExitException());
+        Exception cause = ExitUtil.getFirstExitException();
+        LOG.error("Test resulted in an unexpected exit", cause);
         ExitUtil.resetFirstExitException();
-        throw new AssertionError("Test resulted in an unexpected exit");
+        throw new AssertionError("Test resulted in an unexpected exit: " +
+            cause.toString(), cause);
       }
     }
     if (closeFileSystem) {