diff --git a/api/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/api/command/user/vmsnapshot/CreateVMSnapshotCmd.java b/api/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/api/command/user/vmsnapshot/CreateVMSnapshotCmd.java
index fc78edbe87b..a59b2f67e61 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/api/command/user/vmsnapshot/CreateVMSnapshotCmd.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/org/apache/cloudstack/api/command/user/vmsnapshot/CreateVMSnapshotCmd.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 package org.apache.cloudstack.api.command.user.vmsnapshot;
 
+import com.cloud.utils.exception.CloudRuntimeException;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.acl.SecurityChecker.AccessType;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.api.ACL;
 import org.apache.cloudstack.api.APICommand;
@@ -90,7 +91,13 @@ public class CreateVMSnapshotCmd extends BaseAsyncCreateCmd {
 
     @Override
     public void create() throws ResourceAllocationException {
-        VMSnapshot vmsnapshot = _vmSnapshotService.allocVMSnapshot(getVmId(), getDisplayName(), getDescription(), snapshotMemory());
+        VMSnapshot vmsnapshot;
+        try {
+            vmsnapshot = _vmSnapshotService.allocVMSnapshot(getVmId(), getDisplayName(), getDescription(), snapshotMemory());
+        } catch (CloudRuntimeException e) {
+            throw new ServerApiException(ApiErrorCode.INTERNAL_ERROR, "Failed to create vm snapshot: " + e.getMessage(), e);
+        }
+
         if (vmsnapshot != null) {
             setEntityId(vmsnapshot.getId());
         } else {
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/com/cloud/vm/snapshot/VMSnapshotManagerImpl.java b/server/src/main/java/com/cloud/vm/snapshot/VMSnapshotManagerImpl.java
index aea16523d9f..5ebb1f27d00 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/com/cloud/vm/snapshot/VMSnapshotManagerImpl.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/com/cloud/vm/snapshot/VMSnapshotManagerImpl.java
@@ -384,7 +384,9 @@ public class VMSnapshotManagerImpl extends MutualExclusiveIdsManagerBase impleme
             VMSnapshotStrategy snapshotStrategy = storageStrategyFactory.getVmSnapshotStrategy(userVmVo.getId(), rootVolumePool.getId(), snapshotMemory);
 
             if (snapshotStrategy == null) {
-                throw new CloudRuntimeException("Could not find snapshot strategy for VM snapshot");
+                String message = "KVM does not support the type of snapshot requested";
+                s_logger.debug(message);
+                throw new CloudRuntimeException(message);
             }
         }