diff --git a/wrappers/desktop.go b/wrappers/desktop.go
index 561899484f9..26137335f1d 100644
--- a/wrappers/desktop.go
+++ b/wrappers/desktop.go
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ func rewriteIconLine(s *snap.Info, line string) (string, error) {
 			return "", fmt.Errorf("icon path %q is not part of the snap", icon)
 		}
 		if filepath.Clean(icon) != icon {
-			return "", fmt.Errorf("icon path %q is not canonicalized", icon)
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("icon path %q is not canonicalized, did you mean %q?", icon, filepath.Clean(icon))
 		}
 		return line, nil
 	}
diff --git a/wrappers/desktop_test.go b/wrappers/desktop_test.go
index 83467d4f319..6ed7a6a25a4 100644
--- a/wrappers/desktop_test.go
+++ b/wrappers/desktop_test.go
@@ -512,8 +512,11 @@ version: 1.0
 	_, err = wrappers.RewriteIconLine(snap, "Icon=/etc/passwd")
 	c.Check(err, ErrorMatches, `icon path "/etc/passwd" is not part of the snap`)
 
+	_, err = wrappers.RewriteIconLine(snap, "Icon=${SNAP}/./icon.png")
+	c.Check(err, ErrorMatches, `icon path "\${SNAP}/./icon.png" is not canonicalized, did you mean "\${SNAP}/icon.png"\?`)
+
 	_, err = wrappers.RewriteIconLine(snap, "Icon=${SNAP}/../outside/icon.png")
-	c.Check(err, ErrorMatches, `icon path "\${SNAP}/../outside/icon.png" is not canonicalized`)
+	c.Check(err, ErrorMatches, `icon path "\${SNAP}/../outside/icon.png" is not canonicalized, did you mean "outside/icon.png"\?`)
 }
 
 func (s *sanitizeDesktopFileSuite) TestSanitizeParallelInstancesIconName(c *C) {