diff --git a/src/cargo/util/config/mod.rs b/src/cargo/util/config/mod.rs
index dbf4e3d53b6..53badb21287 100644
--- a/src/cargo/util/config/mod.rs
+++ b/src/cargo/util/config/mod.rs
@@ -1690,7 +1690,7 @@ impl Config {
             .try_borrow_with(|| self.get::<EnvConfig>("env"))?;
 
         if env_config.get("CARGO_HOME").is_some() {
-            bail!("`CARGO_HOME` environment variable should be not be set in `.cargo/config` via `env.CARGO_HOME` as cargo does not use this value directly (only recursive calls to cargo would)");
+            bail!("setting the `CARGO_HOME` environment variable is not supported in the `[env]` configuration table")
         }
 
         Ok(env_config)
diff --git a/tests/testsuite/cargo_env_config.rs b/tests/testsuite/cargo_env_config.rs
index 76f81e9b797..1872d56c004 100644
--- a/tests/testsuite/cargo_env_config.rs
+++ b/tests/testsuite/cargo_env_config.rs
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ fn env_no_cargo_home() {
 
     p.cargo("build")
         .with_status(101)
-        .with_stderr_contains("[..]`CARGO_HOME` environment variable should be not be set in `.cargo/config` via `env.CARGO_HOME` as cargo does not use this value directly (only recursive calls to cargo would)")
+        .with_stderr_contains("[..]setting the `CARGO_HOME` environment variable is not supported in the `[env]` configuration table")
         .run();
 }