diff --git a/applications/tari_app_utilities/src/utilities.rs b/applications/tari_app_utilities/src/utilities.rs
index 36ff5cf060..989c871841 100644
--- a/applications/tari_app_utilities/src/utilities.rs
+++ b/applications/tari_app_utilities/src/utilities.rs
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ pub const LOG_TARGET: &str = "tari::application";
 pub enum ExitCodes {
     #[error("There is an error in the wallet configuration: {0}")]
     ConfigError(String),
-    #[error("The application exited because an unknown error occurred. Check the logs for details.")]
-    UnknownError,
+    #[error("The application exited because an unknown error occurred: {0}. Check the logs for more details.")]
+    UnknownError(String),
     #[error("The application exited because an interface error occurred. Check the logs for details.")]
     InterfaceError,
     #[error("The application exited. {0}")]
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ impl ExitCodes {
     pub fn as_i32(&self) -> i32 {
         match self {
             Self::ConfigError(_) => 101,
-            Self::UnknownError => 102,
+            Self::UnknownError(_) => 102,
             Self::InterfaceError => 103,
             Self::WalletError(_) => 104,
             Self::GrpcError(_) => 105,
diff --git a/applications/tari_base_node/src/main.rs b/applications/tari_base_node/src/main.rs
index 23a15bbf60..6c8d10475d 100644
--- a/applications/tari_base_node/src/main.rs
+++ b/applications/tari_base_node/src/main.rs
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ fn main_inner() -> Result<(), ExitCodes> {
     // Set up the Tokio runtime
     let rt = setup_runtime(&node_config).map_err(|e| {
         error!(target: LOG_TARGET, "{}", e);
-        ExitCodes::UnknownError
+        ExitCodes::UnknownError(e)
     })?;
 
     rt.block_on(run_node(node_config.into(), bootstrap))?;
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ async fn run_node(node_config: Arc<GlobalConfig>, bootstrap: ConfigBootstrap) ->
                 return ExitCodes::ConfigError(boxed_error.to_string());
             }
         }
-        ExitCodes::UnknownError
+        ExitCodes::UnknownError(err.to_string())
     })?;
 
     if node_config.grpc_enabled {
diff --git a/applications/tari_base_node/src/recovery.rs b/applications/tari_base_node/src/recovery.rs
index 8e0e0786c7..391423c12e 100644
--- a/applications/tari_base_node/src/recovery.rs
+++ b/applications/tari_base_node/src/recovery.rs
@@ -62,12 +62,13 @@ pub fn initiate_recover_db(node_config: &GlobalConfig) -> Result<(), ExitCodes>
         DatabaseType::LMDB(p) => {
             let _backend = create_recovery_lmdb_database(&p).map_err(|err| {
                 error!(target: LOG_TARGET, "{}", err);
-                ExitCodes::UnknownError
+                ExitCodes::UnknownError(err.to_string())
             })?;
         },
         _ => {
-            error!(target: LOG_TARGET, "Recovery mode is only available for LMDB");
-            return Err(ExitCodes::UnknownError);
+            const MSG: &str = "Recovery mode is only available for LMDB";
+            error!(target: LOG_TARGET, "{}", MSG);
+            return Err(ExitCodes::UnknownError(MSG.to_string()));
         },
     };
     Ok(())