diff --git a/runtime/platform/utils.cc b/runtime/platform/utils.cc
index d6b4471294c..e7179ed8040 100644
--- a/runtime/platform/utils.cc
+++ b/runtime/platform/utils.cc
@@ -267,7 +267,24 @@ static void GetLastErrorAsString(char** error) {
   *error = status != nullptr ? strdup(status) : nullptr;
 #elif defined(DART_HOST_OS_WINDOWS)
   const int status = GetLastError();
-  *error = status != 0 ? Utils::SCreate("error code %i", status) : nullptr;
+  if (status != 0) {
+    char* description = nullptr;
+    int length = FormatMessageA(
+        FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER | FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM |
+            FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS,
+        nullptr, status, MAKELANGID(LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_US),
+        reinterpret_cast<char*>(&description), 0, nullptr);
+    if (length == 0) {
+      // Seems like there is no message for this error code.
+      *error = Utils::SCreate("error code %i", status);
+    } else {
+      *error = Utils::SCreate("%s (error code: %i)", description, status);
+    }
+
+    LocalFree(description);
+  } else {
+    *error = nullptr;
+  }
 #else
   *error = Utils::StrDup("loading dynamic libraries is not supported");
 #endif
diff --git a/tests/ffi/dylib_open_test.dart b/tests/ffi/dylib_open_test.dart
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..02da551aac3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ffi/dylib_open_test.dart
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2023, the Dart project authors.  Please see the AUTHORS file
+// for details. All rights reserved. Use of this source code is governed by a
+// BSD-style license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+import 'dart:ffi';
+import 'dart:io';
+
+import 'package:expect/expect.dart';
+
+import 'dylib_utils.dart';
+
+void main() {
+  testDoesNotExist();
+}
+
+void testDoesNotExist() {
+  final exception = Expect.throws<ArgumentError>(
+      () => DynamicLibrary.open(dylibName('doesnotexist1234')));
+
+  if (Platform.isWindows) {
+    Expect.contains(
+        'The specified module could not be found.', exception.message);
+    Expect.contains('(error code: 126)', exception.message);
+  } else if (Platform.isLinux) {
+    Expect.contains('cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory',
+        exception.message);
+  } else if (Platform.isMacOS) {
+    Expect.contains('libdoesnotexist1234.dylib', exception.message);
+    Expect.contains('no such file', exception.message);
+  }
+}