diff --git a/cmd/zfs/zfs_main.c b/cmd/zfs/zfs_main.c
index 75c0e40b61..2941efe2f6 100644
--- a/cmd/zfs/zfs_main.c
+++ b/cmd/zfs/zfs_main.c
@@ -7445,9 +7445,14 @@ unshare_unmount_path(int op, char *path, int flags, boolean_t is_manual)
 		}
 		(void) fprintf(stderr, gettext("warning: %s not in"
 		    "/proc/self/mounts\n"), path);
-		if ((ret = umount2(path, flags)) != 0)
+		if ((ret = umount2(path, flags)) != 0) {
 			(void) fprintf(stderr, gettext("%s: %s\n"), path,
 			    strerror(errno));
+			if (ret == EPERM && geteuid() != 0) {
+				(void) fprintf(stderr, gettext("filesystems "
+				"may only be unmounted by root\n"));
+			}
+		}
 		return (ret != 0);
 	}
 	path_inode = statbuf.st_ino;