diff --git a/src/corehost/cli/fxr/fx_muxer.h b/src/corehost/cli/fxr/fx_muxer.h
index a802d3043..0c2035bba 100644
--- a/src/corehost/cli/fxr/fx_muxer.h
+++ b/src/corehost/cli/fxr/fx_muxer.h
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 // Copyright (c) .NET Foundation and contributors. All rights reserved.
 // Licensed under the MIT license. See LICENSE file in the project root for full license information.
 
+class corehost_init_t;
 class runtime_config_t;
 struct fx_ver_t;
 
diff --git a/src/corehost/cli/fxr/hostfxr.cpp b/src/corehost/cli/fxr/hostfxr.cpp
index 0b83286ff..e81c1de45 100644
--- a/src/corehost/cli/fxr/hostfxr.cpp
+++ b/src/corehost/cli/fxr/hostfxr.cpp
@@ -5,10 +5,11 @@
 #include "trace.h"
 #include "pal.h"
 #include "utils.h"
-#include "libhost.h"
 #include "fx_ver.h"
 #include "fx_muxer.h"
 #include "error_codes.h"
+#include "libhost.h"
+#include "runtime_config.h"
 
 typedef int(*corehost_load_fn) (const corehost_init_t* init);
 typedef int(*corehost_main_fn) (const int argc, const pal::char_t* argv[]);
@@ -59,7 +60,14 @@ int execute_app(
 
     if (code != StatusCode::Success)
     {
-        trace::error(_X("Could not load host policy library [%s]"), impl_dll_dir.c_str());
+        trace::error(_X("Could not load host policy library from [%s]"), impl_dll_dir.c_str());
+        if (init->fx_dir() == impl_dll_dir)
+        {
+            pal::string_t name = init->runtime_config()->get_fx_name();
+            pal::string_t version = init->runtime_config()->get_fx_version();
+            trace::error(_X("This may be because the targeted framework [%s %s] was not found."),
+                name.c_str(), version.c_str());
+        }
         return code;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/corehost/cli/hostpolicy.cpp b/src/corehost/cli/hostpolicy.cpp
index efd99676b..795439f75 100644
--- a/src/corehost/cli/hostpolicy.cpp
+++ b/src/corehost/cli/hostpolicy.cpp
@@ -191,9 +191,14 @@ int run(const corehost_init_t* init, const runtime_config_t& config, const argum
 SHARED_API int corehost_load(corehost_init_t* init)
 {
     g_init = init;
+
+    trace::setup();
+
     if (g_init->version() != corehost_init_t::s_version)
     {
-        trace::error(_X("The structure of init data has changed, do not know how to interpret it"));
+        trace::error(_X("Error loading hostpolicy %s; interface mismatch between hostpolicy [%d] and hostfxr [%d]"),
+                _STRINGIFY(HOST_POLICY_PKG_VER), corehost_init_t::s_version, g_init->version());
+        trace::error(_X("Specifically, the structure of corehost_init_t has changed, do not know how to interpret it"));
         return StatusCode::LibHostInitFailure;
     }
     return 0;
@@ -201,8 +206,6 @@ SHARED_API int corehost_load(corehost_init_t* init)
 
 SHARED_API int corehost_main(const int argc, const pal::char_t* argv[])
 {
-    trace::setup();
-
     assert(g_init);
 
     if (trace::is_enabled())