diff --git a/pkgs/htdp-pkgs/htdp-lib/2htdp/batch-io.rkt b/pkgs/htdp-pkgs/htdp-lib/2htdp/batch-io.rkt
index dc6ce8dddb..25f9512357 100644
--- a/pkgs/htdp-pkgs/htdp-lib/2htdp/batch-io.rkt
+++ b/pkgs/htdp-pkgs/htdp-lib/2htdp/batch-io.rkt
@@ -257,7 +257,12 @@
 (define (check-input-file f t)
   (define d? (assq f *input-devices*))
   (check-arg t (or (string? f) d?) (error-message (map car *input-devices*)) "first" f)
-  (check-arg t (or d? (file-exists? f)) "name of existing file in program's folder" "first" f))
+;; ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+  (unless (or d? (file-exists? f))
+    (error t "file ~s not found in ~s [the program's folder]"
+      f
+      (path->string (current-directory))))
+  f)
 
 ;; effect: ensure that f is a file in current directory or report error for t
 (define (check-output-file f t)