diff --git a/src/installer/tests/Microsoft.NET.HostModel.Tests/AppHost.Bundle.Tests/BundleExtractToSpecificPath.cs b/src/installer/tests/Microsoft.NET.HostModel.Tests/AppHost.Bundle.Tests/BundleExtractToSpecificPath.cs
index 0f5960faefa79..897408f0a3647 100644
--- a/src/installer/tests/Microsoft.NET.HostModel.Tests/AppHost.Bundle.Tests/BundleExtractToSpecificPath.cs
+++ b/src/installer/tests/Microsoft.NET.HostModel.Tests/AppHost.Bundle.Tests/BundleExtractToSpecificPath.cs
@@ -201,17 +201,58 @@ private void Bundle_extraction_can_recover_missing_files()
             extractDir.Should().HaveFiles(extractedFiles);
         }
 
+        [Fact]
+        private void Bundle_extraction_to_nonexisting_default()
+        {
+            string nonExistentPath = Path.Combine(
+                sharedTestState.DefaultBundledAppFixture.TestProject.OutputDirectory,
+                "nonexistent");
+
+            string defaultExpansionEnvVariable = OperatingSystem.IsWindows() ? "TMP" : "HOME";
+            string expectedErrorMessagePart = OperatingSystem.IsWindows() ?
+                $"Failed to determine default extraction location. Check if 'TMP'" :
+                $"Default extraction directory [{nonExistentPath}] either doesn't exist or is not accessible for read/write.";
+
+            Command.Create(sharedTestState.DefaultBundledAppExecutablePath)
+                .CaptureStdErr()
+                .CaptureStdOut()
+                .EnvironmentVariable(defaultExpansionEnvVariable, nonExistentPath)
+                .Execute().Should().Fail()
+                .And.HaveStdErrContaining(expectedErrorMessagePart);
+        }
+
+        [Fact]
+        [SkipOnPlatform(TestPlatforms.Windows, "On Windows the default extraction path is determined by calling GetTempPath which looks at multiple places and can't really be undefined.")]
+        private void Bundle_extraction_default_undefined()
+        {
+            Command.Create(sharedTestState.DefaultBundledAppExecutablePath)
+                .CaptureStdErr()
+                .CaptureStdOut()
+                .EnvironmentVariable("HOME", null)
+                .Execute().Should().Fail()
+                .And.HaveStdErrContaining("Failed to determine default extraction location. Environment variable '$HOME' is not defined.");
+        }
+
         public class SharedTestState : SharedTestStateBase, IDisposable
         {
-            public TestProjectFixture TestFixture { get; set; }
+            public TestProjectFixture TestFixture { get; }
+
+            public TestProjectFixture DefaultBundledAppFixture { get; }
+            public string DefaultBundledAppExecutablePath { get; }
+            public Bundler DefaultBundledAppBundler { get; }
 
             public SharedTestState()
             {
                 TestFixture = PreparePublishedSelfContainedTestProject("StandaloneApp");
+
+                DefaultBundledAppFixture = TestFixture.Copy();
+                DefaultBundledAppBundler = BundleSelfContainedApp(DefaultBundledAppFixture, out var singleFile, BundleOptions.BundleNativeBinaries);
+                DefaultBundledAppExecutablePath = singleFile;
             }
 
             public void Dispose()
             {
+                DefaultBundledAppFixture.Dispose();
                 TestFixture.Dispose();
             }
         }
diff --git a/src/native/corehost/hostmisc/pal.unix.cpp b/src/native/corehost/hostmisc/pal.unix.cpp
index ef644bdf0d7a3..6f247f096cc99 100644
--- a/src/native/corehost/hostmisc/pal.unix.cpp
+++ b/src/native/corehost/hostmisc/pal.unix.cpp
@@ -341,7 +341,18 @@ bool get_extraction_base_parent_directory(pal::string_t& directory)
     // check for the POSIX standard environment variable
     if (pal::getenv(_X("HOME"), &directory))
     {
-        return is_read_write_able_directory(directory);
+        if (is_read_write_able_directory(directory))
+        {
+            return true;
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            trace::error(_X("Default extraction directory [%s] either doesn't exist or is not accessible for read/write."), directory.c_str());
+        }
+    }
+    else
+    {
+        trace::error(_X("Failed to determine default extraction location. Environment variable '$HOME' is not defined."));
     }
 
     return false;
@@ -367,6 +378,7 @@ bool pal::get_default_bundle_extraction_base_dir(pal::string_t& extraction_dir)
     }
     else if (errno != EEXIST)
     {
+        trace::error(_X("Failed to create default extraction directory [%s]. %s"), extraction_dir.c_str(), pal::strerror(errno));
         return false;
     }
 
diff --git a/src/native/corehost/hostmisc/pal.windows.cpp b/src/native/corehost/hostmisc/pal.windows.cpp
index 2a964f06868e7..e50ebdc9313d0 100644
--- a/src/native/corehost/hostmisc/pal.windows.cpp
+++ b/src/native/corehost/hostmisc/pal.windows.cpp
@@ -573,6 +573,7 @@ bool pal::get_default_bundle_extraction_base_dir(pal::string_t& extraction_dir)
 {
     if (!get_extraction_base_parent_directory(extraction_dir))
     {
+        trace::error(_X("Failed to determine default extraction location. Check if 'TMP' or 'TEMP' points to existing path."));
         return false;
     }
 
@@ -588,6 +589,7 @@ bool pal::get_default_bundle_extraction_base_dir(pal::string_t& extraction_dir)
     if (CreateDirectoryW(extraction_dir.c_str(), NULL) == 0 &&
         GetLastError() != ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS)
     {
+        trace::error(_X("Failed to create default extraction directory [%s]. %s, error code: %d"), extraction_dir.c_str(), pal::strerror(errno), GetLastError());
         return false;
     }