diff --git a/internal/cmd/configssh.go b/internal/cmd/configssh.go
index 5da6745c..2bf2133c 100644
--- a/internal/cmd/configssh.go
+++ b/internal/cmd/configssh.go
@@ -130,11 +130,12 @@ func configSSH(configpath *string, remove *bool) func(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []st
 		}
 		err = writeSSHKey(ctx, client, privateKeyFilepath)
 		if err != nil {
-			return xerrors.Errorf("fetch and write ssh key: %w", err)
+			fmt.Printf("Your private ssh key already exists at \"%s\"\nYou may need to remove the existing file and re-run this command\n", privateKeyFilepath)
+		} else {
+			fmt.Printf("Your private ssh key was written to \"%s\"\n", privateKeyFilepath)
 		}
 
 		fmt.Printf("An auto-generated ssh config was written to \"%s\"\n", *configpath)
-		fmt.Printf("Your private ssh key was written to \"%s\"\n", privateKeyFilepath)
 		fmt.Println("You should now be able to ssh into your environment")
 		fmt.Printf("For example, try running\n\n\t$ ssh coder.%s\n\n", envs[0].Name)
 		return nil