diff --git a/lib/ignore/ignore.go b/lib/ignore/ignore.go
index a26e73c7b..01960f3dd 100644
--- a/lib/ignore/ignore.go
+++ b/lib/ignore/ignore.go
@@ -406,11 +406,19 @@ func loadParseIncludeFile(filesystem fs.Filesystem, file string, cd ChangeDetect
 	}
 
 	if cd.Seen(filesystem, file) {
-		return nil, parseError(fmt.Errorf("multiple include of ignore file %q", file))
+		return nil, errors.New("multiple include")
 	}
 
 	fd, info, err := loadIgnoreFile(filesystem, file)
 	if err != nil {
+		// isNotExist is considered "ok" in a sense of that a folder doesn't have to act
+		// upon it. This is because it is allowed for .stignore to not exist. However,
+		// included ignore files are not allowed to be missing and these errors should be
+		// acted upon on. So we don't perserve the error chain here and manually set an
+		// error instead, if the file is missing.
+		if fs.IsNotExist(err) {
+			err = errors.New("file not found")
+		}
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	defer fd.Close()
diff --git a/lib/ignore/ignore_test.go b/lib/ignore/ignore_test.go
index 231b926e9..cf1b590a6 100644
--- a/lib/ignore/ignore_test.go
+++ b/lib/ignore/ignore_test.go
@@ -197,6 +197,11 @@ func TestBadPatterns(t *testing.T) {
 		if !IsParseError(err) {
 			t.Error("Should have been a parse error:", err)
 		}
+		if strings.HasPrefix(pat, "#include") {
+			if fs.IsNotExist(err) {
+				t.Error("Includes should not toss a regular isNotExist error")
+			}
+		}
 	}
 }