diff --git a/include/VirtualMachine.h b/include/VirtualMachine.h
index 1f02e3514c..872cb01404 100644
--- a/include/VirtualMachine.h
+++ b/include/VirtualMachine.h
@@ -1646,7 +1646,7 @@ public:
      *  clone_target and ln_target
      *  @param tm_mad is the tm_mad for system datastore chosen
      */
-    int check_tm_mad_disks(const string& tm_mad);
+    int check_tm_mad_disks(const string& tm_mad, string& error);
 
 private:
 
diff --git a/include/VirtualMachineDisk.h b/include/VirtualMachineDisk.h
index 2fe7e14d0a..1eeacae53b 100644
--- a/include/VirtualMachineDisk.h
+++ b/include/VirtualMachineDisk.h
@@ -357,12 +357,6 @@ public:
      */
     void to_xml_short(std::ostringstream& oss) const;
 
-    /**
-     *  Check if a tm_mad is valid and set clone_target and ln_target
-     *  @param tm_mad is the tm_mad for system datastore chosen
-     */
-    int check_tm_mad(const string& tm_mad);
-
 private:
 
     Snapshots * snapshots;
@@ -793,7 +787,7 @@ public:
      *  clone_target and ln_target
      *  @param tm_mad is the tm_mad for system datastore chosen
      */
-    int check_tm_mad(const string& tm_mad);
+    int check_tm_mad(const string& tm_mad, string& error);
 
 protected:
 
diff --git a/src/rm/RequestManagerVirtualMachine.cc b/src/rm/RequestManagerVirtualMachine.cc
index 08aaed978b..3d577689da 100644
--- a/src/rm/RequestManagerVirtualMachine.cc
+++ b/src/rm/RequestManagerVirtualMachine.cc
@@ -975,18 +975,16 @@ void VirtualMachineDeploy::request_execute(xmlrpc_c::paramList const& paramList,
         return;
     }
 
-    if ( check_nic_auto && vm->get_auto_network_leases(&tmpl, error_str) != 0 )
+    if ( check_nic_auto && vm->get_auto_network_leases(&tmpl, att.resp_msg) != 0 )
     {
-        att.resp_msg = error_str;
         failure_response(ACTION, att);
 
         vm->unlock();
         return;
     }
 
-    if ( vm->check_tm_mad_disks(tm_mad) != 0)
+    if ( vm->check_tm_mad_disks(tm_mad, att.resp_msg) != 0)
     {
-        att.resp_msg = error_str;
         failure_response(ACTION, att);
 
         vm->unlock();
diff --git a/src/vm/VirtualMachine.cc b/src/vm/VirtualMachine.cc
index ffccfdd9a2..314997530b 100644
--- a/src/vm/VirtualMachine.cc
+++ b/src/vm/VirtualMachine.cc
@@ -3471,7 +3471,7 @@ int VirtualMachine::parse_sched_action(string& error_str)
 /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
 /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
 
-int VirtualMachine::check_tm_mad_disks(const string& tm_mad)
+int VirtualMachine::check_tm_mad_disks(const string& tm_mad, string& error)
 {
     string tm_mad_sys;
     
@@ -3481,7 +3481,7 @@ int VirtualMachine::check_tm_mad_disks(const string& tm_mad)
     {
         return 0;
     }
-    if ( disks.check_tm_mad(tm_mad) != 0 )
+    if ( disks.check_tm_mad(tm_mad, error) != 0 )
     {
         return -1;
     }
diff --git a/src/vm/VirtualMachineDisk.cc b/src/vm/VirtualMachineDisk.cc
index d32223be24..f68072f67e 100644
--- a/src/vm/VirtualMachineDisk.cc
+++ b/src/vm/VirtualMachineDisk.cc
@@ -1617,7 +1617,7 @@ std::string& VirtualMachineDisks::to_xml_short(std::string& xml)
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 /* -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
 
-int VirtualMachineDisks::check_tm_mad(const string& tm_mad)
+int VirtualMachineDisks::check_tm_mad(const string& tm_mad, string& error)
 {
     DatastorePool * dspool = Nebula::instance().get_dspool();
 
@@ -1648,11 +1648,14 @@ int VirtualMachineDisks::check_tm_mad(const string& tm_mad)
 
             if ( ds_img == 0 )
             {
+                error = "Datastore does not exist";
                 return -1;
             }
 
-            if ( ds_img->get_tm_mad_targets(tm_mad, ln_target, clone_target, disk_type) != 0 )
+            if ( ds_img->get_tm_mad_targets(tm_mad, ln_target, clone_target, 
+                        disk_type) != 0 )
             {
+                error = "Image Datastore does not support transfer mode: " + tm_mad;
                 return -1;
             }
 
@@ -1663,6 +1666,7 @@ int VirtualMachineDisks::check_tm_mad(const string& tm_mad)
         }
         else
         {
+            error = "Image datastore not defined for VM DISK";
             return -1;
         }