diff --git a/tools/ade b/tools/ade
index 1d008693ddb979f7935db6ed1de2597823067cf7..366692ca3a3615c93d56a4ae64bccd6ba061b320 100755
--- a/tools/ade
+++ b/tools/ade
@@ -547,7 +547,7 @@ class SysrootManager:
             os.makedirs(dest, exist_ok=True)
             filename = tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(dir=dest).name
         except Exception as e:
-            raise("Couldn't create download directory: {0}".format(e))
+            raise SysrootManagerError("Couldn't create download directory: {0}".format(e))
 
         try:
             hook = None