diff --git a/Tools/mavlink_shell.py b/Tools/mavlink_shell.py
index 3a698762fe..a925bb6ba5 100755
--- a/Tools/mavlink_shell.py
+++ b/Tools/mavlink_shell.py
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ try:
 except:
     print("Failed to import pymavlink.")
     print("You may need to install it with 'pip install pymavlink pyserial'")
-    exit(-1)
+    print("")
+    raise
 from argparse import ArgumentParser
 
 
diff --git a/Tools/mavlink_ulog_streaming.py b/Tools/mavlink_ulog_streaming.py
index 3da8e14dce..f26c3d2ba7 100755
--- a/Tools/mavlink_ulog_streaming.py
+++ b/Tools/mavlink_ulog_streaming.py
@@ -17,8 +17,9 @@ try:
     from pymavlink import mavutil
 except:
     print("Failed to import pymavlink.")
-    print("You may need to install it with 'pip install pymavlink'")
-    exit(-1)
+    print("You may need to install it with 'pip install pymavlink pyserial'")
+    print("")
+    raise
 from argparse import ArgumentParser