diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java
index 9ed80efbe3..5db41bd1ed 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/datanode/DataNode.java
@@ -921,7 +921,15 @@ private void startInfoServer()
   }
 
   private void startPlugins(Configuration conf) {
-    plugins = conf.getInstances(DFS_DATANODE_PLUGINS_KEY, ServicePlugin.class);
+    try {
+      plugins = conf.getInstances(DFS_DATANODE_PLUGINS_KEY,
+          ServicePlugin.class);
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      String pluginsValue = conf.get(DFS_DATANODE_PLUGINS_KEY);
+      LOG.error("Unable to load DataNode plugins. Specified list of plugins: " +
+          pluginsValue, e);
+      throw e;
+    }
     for (ServicePlugin p: plugins) {
       try {
         p.start(this);
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
index 1752cf7ed4..e7841f02a9 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/NameNode.java
@@ -809,8 +809,15 @@ private void startCommonServices(Configuration conf) throws IOException {
       httpServer.setFSImage(getFSImage());
     }
     rpcServer.start();
-    plugins = conf.getInstances(DFS_NAMENODE_PLUGINS_KEY,
-        ServicePlugin.class);
+    try {
+      plugins = conf.getInstances(DFS_NAMENODE_PLUGINS_KEY,
+          ServicePlugin.class);
+    } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+      String pluginsValue = conf.get(DFS_NAMENODE_PLUGINS_KEY);
+      LOG.error("Unable to load NameNode plugins. Specified list of plugins: " +
+          pluginsValue, e);
+      throw e;
+    }
     for (ServicePlugin p: plugins) {
       try {
         p.start(this);