diff --git a/tests/manual/RunCMake/InitRepository/RunCMakeTest.cmake b/tests/manual/RunCMake/InitRepository/RunCMakeTest.cmake
index bb18bd1a..4e93dbd3 100644
--- a/tests/manual/RunCMake/InitRepository/RunCMakeTest.cmake
+++ b/tests/manual/RunCMake/InitRepository/RunCMakeTest.cmake
@@ -12,7 +12,19 @@ include(RunCMake)
 
 # Uses prefix set from outside scope.
 function(run_suite_command name)
-    run_cmake_command(${prefix}_${name} ${ARGN})
+    set(RunCMake_TEST_COMMAND "${ARGN}")
+    set(RunCMake-check-file "check.cmake")
+
+    set(args ${ARGN})
+    list(JOIN args " " args_str)
+    set(working_dir "${RunCMake_TEST_COMMAND_WORKING_DIRECTORY}")
+    message(STATUS "Running command: '${args_str}' in dir: '${working_dir}'")
+
+    run_cmake("${prefix}${name}")
+    # set by the check file above.
+    if(should_error_out)
+        message(FATAL_ERROR "Command ${prefix}${name} failed. Exiting early.")
+    endif()
 endfunction()
 
 macro(read_expected_output test file_name)
diff --git a/tests/manual/RunCMake/InitRepository/check.cmake b/tests/manual/RunCMake/InitRepository/check.cmake
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..56fbb060
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/manual/RunCMake/InitRepository/check.cmake
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# This file is include()d by run_cmake right after it calls execute_process.
+# The msg var is set to a non-empty value when the was an error of
+# some kind. Record failure with a separate variable in the parent scope,
+# so we can FATAL_ERROR at the end.
+if(NOT "${msg}" STREQUAL "")
+    set(should_error_out TRUE PARENT_SCOPE)
+else()
+    set(should_error_out FALSE PARENT_SCOPE)
+endif()