diff --git a/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c b/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c
index 74764fabdaf1f74ae23557417605d938956225f9..6a36d29f43b1b053026080d4408bb601115e490f 100644
--- a/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c
+++ b/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c
@@ -648,7 +648,12 @@ test_postmaster_connection(bool do_checkpoint)
 			struct stat statbuf;
 
 			if (stat(pid_file, &statbuf) != 0)
+			{
+				if (errno != ENOENT)
+					write_stderr(_("\n%s: could not stat file \"%s\": %s\n"),
+								 progname, pid_file, strerror(errno));
 				return PQPING_NO_RESPONSE;
+			}
 
 			if (found_stale_pidfile)
 			{