diff --git a/src/render/SDL_render.c b/src/render/SDL_render.c
index aeb3424b13..b08e0c95c4 100644
--- a/src/render/SDL_render.c
+++ b/src/render/SDL_render.c
@@ -1096,6 +1096,7 @@ SDL_Renderer *SDL_CreateRendererWithProperties(SDL_PropertiesID props)
             goto error;
         }
     } else {
+        char *driver_error = NULL;
         bool rc = false;
         if (!driver_name) {
             driver_name = SDL_GetHint(SDL_HINT_RENDER_DRIVER);
@@ -1110,10 +1111,13 @@ SDL_Renderer *SDL_CreateRendererWithProperties(SDL_PropertiesID props)
                 for (int i = 0; render_drivers[i]; i++) {
                     const SDL_RenderDriver *driver = render_drivers[i];
                     if ((driver_attempt_len == SDL_strlen(driver->name)) && (SDL_strncasecmp(driver->name, driver_attempt, driver_attempt_len) == 0)) {
+                        SDL_free(driver_error);
                         rc = driver->CreateRenderer(renderer, window, props);
                         if (rc) {
                             break;
                         }
+                        driver_error = SDL_strdup(SDL_GetError());
+                        SDL_LogWarn(SDL_LOG_CATEGORY_RENDER, "Couldn't create renderer %s: %s\n", driver->name, driver_error);
                         SDL_DestroyRendererWithoutFreeing(renderer);
                         SDL_zerop(renderer); // make sure we don't leave function pointers from a previous CreateRenderer() in this struct.
                     }
@@ -1137,7 +1141,12 @@ SDL_Renderer *SDL_CreateRendererWithProperties(SDL_PropertiesID props)
             SDL_DebugLogBackend("render", renderer->name);
         } else {
             if (driver_name) {
-                SDL_SetError("%s not available", driver_name);
+                if (driver_error) {
+                    SDL_SetError("%s", driver_error);
+                    SDL_free(driver_error);
+                } else {
+                    SDL_SetError("%s not available", driver_name);
+                }
             } else {
                 SDL_SetError("Couldn't find matching render driver");
             }
diff --git a/src/render/vulkan/SDL_render_vulkan.c b/src/render/vulkan/SDL_render_vulkan.c
index a06598ea0c..18a32f6907 100644
--- a/src/render/vulkan/SDL_render_vulkan.c
+++ b/src/render/vulkan/SDL_render_vulkan.c
@@ -1812,7 +1812,6 @@ static VkResult VULKAN_CreateDeviceResources(SDL_Renderer *renderer, SDL_Propert
     } else {
         if (!SDL_Vulkan_CreateSurface(renderer->window, rendererData->instance, NULL, &rendererData->surface)) {
             VULKAN_DestroyAll(renderer);
-            SET_ERROR_MESSAGE("Vulkan_CreateSurface() failed");
             return VK_ERROR_UNKNOWN;
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/video/android/SDL_androidvulkan.c b/src/video/android/SDL_androidvulkan.c
index 2ab925f74a..52ba1621b5 100644
--- a/src/video/android/SDL_androidvulkan.c
+++ b/src/video/android/SDL_androidvulkan.c
@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ bool Android_Vulkan_CreateSurface(SDL_VideoDevice *_this,
         return SDL_SetError(VK_KHR_ANDROID_SURFACE_EXTENSION_NAME
                             " extension is not enabled in the Vulkan instance.");
     }
+
     SDL_zero(createInfo);
     createInfo.sType = VK_STRUCTURE_TYPE_ANDROID_SURFACE_CREATE_INFO_KHR;
     createInfo.pNext = NULL;
@@ -152,7 +153,11 @@ bool Android_Vulkan_CreateSurface(SDL_VideoDevice *_this,
     createInfo.window = windowData->native_window;
     result = vkCreateAndroidSurfaceKHR(instance, &createInfo, allocator, surface);
     if (result != VK_SUCCESS) {
-        return SDL_SetError("vkCreateAndroidSurfaceKHR failed: %s", SDL_Vulkan_GetResultString(result));
+        if (result == VK_ERROR_NATIVE_WINDOW_IN_USE_KHR) {
+            return SDL_SetError("vkCreateAndroidSurfaceKHR failed: %s, was the window created with SDL_WINDOW_VULKAN?", SDL_Vulkan_GetResultString(result));
+        } else {
+            return SDL_SetError("vkCreateAndroidSurfaceKHR failed: %s", SDL_Vulkan_GetResultString(result));
+        }
     }
     return true;
 }