diff --git a/kitty/data-types.c b/kitty/data-types.c
index 2d4e477b9..a5f4731b5 100644
--- a/kitty/data-types.c
+++ b/kitty/data-types.c
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ open_tty(PyObject *self UNUSED, PyObject *args) {
     if (!read_with_timeout) flags |= O_NONBLOCK;
     static char ctty[L_ctermid+1];
     int fd = open(ctermid(ctty), flags);
-    if (fd == -1) { PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError); return NULL; }
+    if (fd == -1) { PyErr_Format(PyExc_OSError, "Failed to open controlling terminal: %s (identified with ctermid()) with error: %s", ctty, strerror(errno)); return NULL; }
     struct termios *termios_p = calloc(1, sizeof(struct termios));
     if (!termios_p) return PyErr_NoMemory();
     if (tcgetattr(fd, termios_p) != 0) { free(termios_p); PyErr_SetFromErrno(PyExc_OSError); return NULL; }