diff --git a/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/fetchmissingdists b/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/fetchmissingdists
index 768217e2fb8..820a5275b2c 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/fetchmissingdists
+++ b/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/fetchmissingdists
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 
 error()
 {
-	dialog --backtitle "FreeBSD Installer" --title "Error" --msgbox $1 0 0
+	dialog --backtitle "FreeBSD Installer" --title "Error" --msgbox "$1" 0 0
 	exit 1
 }