diff --git a/cmd/coder/sync.go b/cmd/coder/sync.go
index b28afd08..d5b4d4bb 100644
--- a/cmd/coder/sync.go
+++ b/cmd/coder/sync.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
@@ -28,6 +29,9 @@ func (cmd *syncCmd) RegisterFlags(fl *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	fl.BoolVarP(&cmd.init, "init", "i", false, "do inititial transfer and exit")
 }
 
+// See https://lxadm.com/Rsync_exit_codes#List_of_standard_rsync_exit_codes.
+var NoRsync = errors.New("rsync: exit status 2")
+
 func (cmd *syncCmd) Run(fl *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	var (
 		local  = fl.Arg(0)
@@ -49,7 +53,7 @@ func (cmd *syncCmd) Run(fl *pflag.FlagSet) {
 
 	remoteTokens := strings.SplitN(remote, ":", 2)
 	if len(remoteTokens) != 2 {
-		flog.Fatal("remote misformmated")
+		flog.Fatal("remote misformatted")
 	}
 	var (
 		envName   = remoteTokens[0]
@@ -73,5 +77,10 @@ func (cmd *syncCmd) Run(fl *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	for err == nil || err == sync.ErrRestartSync {
 		err = s.Run()
 	}
-	flog.Fatal("sync: %v", err)
+
+	if err == NoRsync {
+		flog.Fatal("no compatible rsync present on remote machine")
+	} else {
+		flog.Fatal("sync: %v", err)
+	}
 }
diff --git a/internal/sync/sync.go b/internal/sync/sync.go
index 5c695260..2696ba1c 100644
--- a/internal/sync/sync.go
+++ b/internal/sync/sync.go
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path"
@@ -56,7 +57,7 @@ func (s Sync) syncPaths(delete bool, local, remote string) error {
 	// good in general for codebases.
 	cmd := exec.Command("rsync", args...)
 	cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
-	cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+	cmd.Stderr = ioutil.Discard
 	cmd.Stdin = os.Stdin
 	err := cmd.Run()
 	if err != nil {
@@ -248,7 +249,6 @@ func (s Sync) Run() error {
 		return nil
 	}
 
-
 	flog.Info("watching %s for changes", s.LocalDir)
 
 	var droppedEvents uint64