diff --git a/build-tools/xaprepare/xaprepare/Application/Utilities.cs b/build-tools/xaprepare/xaprepare/Application/Utilities.cs
index 3f1bdfbe1e0..eb2a9393525 100644
--- a/build-tools/xaprepare/xaprepare/Application/Utilities.cs
+++ b/build-tools/xaprepare/xaprepare/Application/Utilities.cs
@@ -488,10 +488,7 @@ public static HttpClient CreateHttpClient ()
 				try {
 					using (HttpClient httpClient = CreateHttpClient ()) {
 						httpClient.Timeout = WebRequestTimeout;
-						var req = new HttpRequestMessage (HttpMethod.Head, url);
-						req.Headers.ConnectionClose = true;
-
-						HttpResponseMessage resp = await httpClient.SendAsync (req, HttpCompletionOption.ResponseHeadersRead).ConfigureAwait (true);
+						HttpResponseMessage resp = await httpClient.GetAsync (url, HttpCompletionOption.ResponseHeadersRead).ConfigureAwait (true);
 						if (!resp.IsSuccessStatusCode || !resp.Content.Headers.ContentLength.HasValue)
 							return (false, 0, resp.StatusCode);
 
diff --git a/build-tools/xaprepare/xaprepare/Steps/Step_InstallDotNetPreview.cs b/build-tools/xaprepare/xaprepare/Steps/Step_InstallDotNetPreview.cs
index 705b2b11da9..637d5e8f3cc 100644
--- a/build-tools/xaprepare/xaprepare/Steps/Step_InstallDotNetPreview.cs
+++ b/build-tools/xaprepare/xaprepare/Steps/Step_InstallDotNetPreview.cs
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ protected override async Task<bool> Execute (Context context)
 			dotnetPath = dotnetPath.TrimEnd (new char [] { Path.DirectorySeparatorChar });
 
 			if (!await InstallDotNetAsync (context, dotnetPath, BuildToolVersion)) {
-				Log.ErrorLine ($"Installation of dotnet SDK {BuildToolVersion} failed.");
+				Log.ErrorLine ($"Installation of dotnet SDK '{BuildToolVersion}' failed.");
 				return false;
 			}
 
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ protected override async Task<bool> Execute (Context context)
 				ProcessRunner.QuoteArgument ($"-bl:{logPath}"),
 			};
 			if (!Utilities.RunCommand (Configurables.Paths.DotNetPreviewTool, restoreArgs)) {
-				Log.ErrorLine ($"dotnet restore {packageDownloadProj} failed.");
+				Log.ErrorLine ($"Failed to restore runtime packs using '{packageDownloadProj}'.");
 				return false;
 			}
 
@@ -74,18 +74,19 @@ async Task<bool> DownloadDotNetInstallScript (Context context, string dotnetScri
 			string tempDotnetScriptPath = dotnetScriptPath + "-tmp";
 			Utilities.DeleteFile (tempDotnetScriptPath);
 
-			Log.StatusLine ("Downloading dotnet-install...");
+			Log.StatusLine ("Downloading dotnet-install script...");
 
 			(bool success, ulong size, HttpStatusCode status) = await Utilities.GetDownloadSizeWithStatus (dotnetScriptUrl);
 			if (!success) {
 				string message;
 				if (status == HttpStatusCode.NotFound) {
-					message = "dotnet-install URL not found";
+					message = $"dotnet-install URL '{dotnetScriptUrl}' not found.";
 				} else {
-					message = $"Failed to obtain dotnet-install size. HTTP status code: {status} ({(int)status})";
+					message = $"Failed to obtain dotnet-install script size from URL '{dotnetScriptUrl}'. HTTP status code: {status} ({(int)status})";
 				}
 
-				return ReportAndCheckCached (message, quietOnError: true);
+				if (ReportAndCheckCached (message, quietOnError: true))
+					return true;
 			}
 
 			DownloadStatus downloadStatus = Utilities.SetupDownloadStatus (context, size, context.InteractiveSession);
@@ -192,6 +193,7 @@ async Task<bool> InstallDotNetAsync (Context context, string dotnetPath, string
 			string scriptFileName = Path.GetFileName (dotnetScriptUrl.LocalPath);
 			string cachedDotnetScriptPath = Path.Combine (cacheDir, scriptFileName);
 			if (!await DownloadDotNetInstallScript (context, cachedDotnetScriptPath, dotnetScriptUrl)) {
+				Log.ErrorLine ($"Failed to download dotnet-install script.");
 				return false;
 			}