diff --git a/src/backend/utils/time/snapmgr.c b/src/backend/utils/time/snapmgr.c
index e4519b9251b..85b5d5cdb9e 100644
--- a/src/backend/utils/time/snapmgr.c
+++ b/src/backend/utils/time/snapmgr.c
@@ -1540,9 +1540,8 @@ ImportSnapshot(const char *idstr)
 	f = AllocateFile(path, PG_BINARY_R);
 	if (!f)
 		ereport(ERROR,
-				(errcode_for_file_access(),
-				 errmsg("could not open file \"%s\" for reading: %m",
-						path)));
+				(errcode(ERRCODE_INVALID_PARAMETER_VALUE),
+				 errmsg("invalid snapshot identifier: \"%s\"", idstr)));
 
 	/* get the size of the file so that we know how much memory we need */
 	if (fstat(fileno(f), &stat_buf))