--- server/core.c.orig	2019-08-07 11:05:16.330350792 -0500
+++ server/core.c.orig	2019-08-07 10:25:12.299710381 -0500
@@ -3081,15 +3081,21 @@ 
                                    const char *arg)
 {
     const char *err = ap_check_cmd_context(cmd, GLOBAL_ONLY);
+    apr_status_t rv;
 
     if (err != NULL) {
         return err;
     }
 
-    if ((apr_filepath_merge((char**)&ap_server_root, NULL, arg,
-                            APR_FILEPATH_TRUENAME, cmd->pool) != APR_SUCCESS)
-        || !ap_is_directory(cmd->temp_pool, ap_server_root)) {
-        return "ServerRoot must be a valid directory";
+    if (((rv = apr_filepath_merge((char**)&ap_server_root, NULL, arg,
+                            APR_FILEPATH_TRUENAME, cmd->pool)) != APR_SUCCESS)
+        || (!ap_is_directory(cmd->temp_pool, ap_server_root)
+            && (rv = APR_ENOTDIR)))  /* Deliberately assign rv */
+    {
+        char buf[256] = "ServerRoot must be a valid directory; \0";
+        char len = strlen(buf);
+        apr_strerror(rv, buf + len, sizeof(buf) - len - 1);
+        return apr_pstrdup(cmd->pool, buf);
     }
 
     return NULL;