diff --git a/nc_cxx.cmake b/nc_cxx.cmake
index 5d9f279..99575fa 100644
--- a/nc_cxx.cmake
+++ b/nc_cxx.cmake
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ append_compile_flag ("-stdlib=libc++")
 if (NOT DEFINED __nc_cxx_stdcxxfs)
     foreach(lib "" "c++fs" "c++experimental" "stdc++fs")
         if (NOT __nc_cxx_stdcxxfs)
+            message (STATUS "Trying c++fs library '${lib}'")
             try_compile(
                 __nc_cxx_stdcxxfs ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}
             SOURCES
@@ -57,8 +58,10 @@ if (NOT DEFINED __nc_cxx_stdcxxfs)
     endforeach()
 
     if (NOT __nc_cxx_stdcxxfs)
-        set (__nc_cxx_stdcxxfs "")
+        message (FATAL_ERROR "Could not locate the required c++fs library")
     endif ()
+
+    message (STATUS "Using c++fs library ${__nc_cxx_stdcxxfs}")
 endif ()
 
 set(NC_CXX_STDCXXFS ${__nc_cxx_stdcxxfs})