diff --git a/pkg/daemon/daemon.go b/pkg/daemon/daemon.go
index 3a30d4589e..9c56391608 100644
--- a/pkg/daemon/daemon.go
+++ b/pkg/daemon/daemon.go
@@ -853,8 +853,8 @@ func (dn *Daemon) CheckStateOnBoot() error {
 		if err := dn.nodeWriter.SetDone(dn.kubeClient.CoreV1().Nodes(), dn.nodeLister, dn.name, state.pendingConfig.GetName()); err != nil {
 			return errors.Wrap(err, "error setting node's state to Done")
 		}
-		if err := dn.storePendingState(state.pendingConfig, 0); err != nil {
-			return err
+		if out, err := dn.storePendingState(state.pendingConfig, 0); err != nil {
+			return errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to reset pending config: %s", string(out))
 		}
 
 		state.currentConfig = state.pendingConfig
diff --git a/pkg/daemon/update.go b/pkg/daemon/update.go
index f83b6aba42..ea6b676167 100644
--- a/pkg/daemon/update.go
+++ b/pkg/daemon/update.go
@@ -89,13 +89,13 @@ func (dn *Daemon) updateOSAndReboot(newConfig *mcfgv1.MachineConfig) (retErr err
 		return err
 	}
 
-	if err := dn.storePendingState(newConfig, 1); err != nil {
-		return errors.Wrap(err, "failed to log pending config")
+	if out, err := dn.storePendingState(newConfig, 1); err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to log pending config: %s", string(out))
 	}
 	defer func() {
 		if retErr != nil {
-			if err := dn.storePendingState(newConfig, 0); err != nil {
-				retErr = errors.Wrapf(retErr, "error rolling back pending config %v", err)
+			if out, err := dn.storePendingState(newConfig, 0); err != nil {
+				retErr = errors.Wrapf(retErr, "error rolling back pending config %v: %s", err, string(out))
 				return
 			}
 		}
@@ -724,7 +724,7 @@ func (dn *Daemon) getPendingState() (string, error) {
 	return entry.Message, nil
 }
 
-func (dn *Daemon) storePendingState(pending *mcfgv1.MachineConfig, isPending int) error {
+func (dn *Daemon) storePendingState(pending *mcfgv1.MachineConfig, isPending int) ([]byte, error) {
 	logger := exec.Command("logger", "--journald")
 
 	var pendingState bytes.Buffer
@@ -734,7 +734,7 @@ BOOT_ID=%s
 PENDING=%d`, pendingStateMessageID, pending.GetName(), dn.bootID, isPending)))
 
 	logger.Stdin = &pendingState
-	return logger.Run()
+	return logger.CombinedOutput()
 }
 
 // Log a message to the systemd journal as well as our stdout