diff --git a/databricks/sdk/dbutils.py b/databricks/sdk/dbutils.py
index 327afea55..27ef709e9 100644
--- a/databricks/sdk/dbutils.py
+++ b/databricks/sdk/dbutils.py
@@ -243,7 +243,10 @@ def widgets(self):
     def _cluster_id(self) -> str:
         cluster_id = self._config.cluster_id
         if not cluster_id:
-            message = "cluster_id is required in the configuration"
+            message = (
+                "cluster_id is required in the configuration. "
+                "Set it with Config(cluster_id='...') or the DATABRICKS_CLUSTER_ID environment variable"
+            )
             raise ValueError(self._config.wrap_debug_info(message))
         return cluster_id
 
diff --git a/tests/test_dbutils.py b/tests/test_dbutils.py
index 9792d8de5..bc0d25bca 100644
--- a/tests/test_dbutils.py
+++ b/tests/test_dbutils.py
@@ -113,7 +113,11 @@ def test_fs_rm(dbutils, mocker):
     inner.assert_called_with("a", recursive=False)
 
 
-@raises("cluster_id is required in the configuration. Config: host=http://localhost, auth_type=noop")
+@raises(
+    "cluster_id is required in the configuration. "
+    "Set it with Config(cluster_id='...') or the DATABRICKS_CLUSTER_ID environment variable. "
+    "Config: host=http://localhost, auth_type=noop"
+)
 def test_fs_mount_without_cluster_fails(dbutils):
     dbutils.fs.mount("s3://foo", "bar")