diff --git a/src/common/settings.cpp b/src/common/settings.cpp
index 5761e8b321e..cbf794a7c62 100644
--- a/src/common/settings.cpp
+++ b/src/common/settings.cpp
@@ -81,7 +81,9 @@ bool ReadSettings(const fs::path& path, std::map<std::string, SettingsValue>& va
 
     SettingsValue in;
     if (!in.read(std::string{std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(file), std::istreambuf_iterator<char>()})) {
-        errors.emplace_back(strprintf("Unable to parse settings file %s", fs::PathToString(path)));
+        errors.emplace_back(strprintf("Settings file %s does not contain valid JSON. This is probably caused by disk corruption or a crash, "
+                                      "and can be fixed by removing the file, which will reset settings to default values.",
+                                      fs::PathToString(path)));
         return false;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/settings_tests.cpp b/src/test/settings_tests.cpp
index fa8ceb8dd6b..41190b35798 100644
--- a/src/test/settings_tests.cpp
+++ b/src/test/settings_tests.cpp
@@ -99,7 +99,9 @@ BOOST_AUTO_TEST_CASE(ReadWrite)
     // Check invalid json not allowed
     WriteText(path, R"(invalid json)");
     BOOST_CHECK(!common::ReadSettings(path, values, errors));
-    std::vector<std::string> fail_parse = {strprintf("Unable to parse settings file %s", fs::PathToString(path))};
+    std::vector<std::string> fail_parse = {strprintf("Settings file %s does not contain valid JSON. This is probably caused by disk corruption or a crash, "
+                                                     "and can be fixed by removing the file, which will reset settings to default values.",
+                                                     fs::PathToString(path))};
     BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL_COLLECTIONS(errors.begin(), errors.end(), fail_parse.begin(), fail_parse.end());
 }
 
diff --git a/test/functional/feature_settings.py b/test/functional/feature_settings.py
index 1bacdd447a2..4175699152e 100755
--- a/test/functional/feature_settings.py
+++ b/test/functional/feature_settings.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ class SettingsTest(BitcoinTestFramework):
         # Test invalid json
         with settings.open("w") as fp:
             fp.write("invalid json")
-        node.assert_start_raises_init_error(expected_msg='Unable to parse settings file', match=ErrorMatch.PARTIAL_REGEX)
+        node.assert_start_raises_init_error(expected_msg='does not contain valid JSON. This is probably caused by disk corruption or a crash', match=ErrorMatch.PARTIAL_REGEX)
 
         # Test invalid json object
         with settings.open("w") as fp: