diff --git a/crates/client/src/main.rs b/crates/client/src/main.rs
index 5b8deaf..ae420fd 100644
--- a/crates/client/src/main.rs
+++ b/crates/client/src/main.rs
@@ -374,18 +374,24 @@ async fn handle_message(
             let mut sh = shell.lock().await;
             match sh.run(&command, timeout_ms).await {
                 Ok((stdout, stderr, exit_code)) => {
-                    let first_line = stdout.trim().lines().next().unwrap_or("").to_string();
                     let result = if exit_code != 0 {
-                        if first_line.is_empty() {
-                            format!("exit {exit_code}")
-                        } else {
-                            format!("{first_line}  ·  exit {exit_code}")
-                        }
+                        // For errors: use first non-empty stderr line (actual error message),
+                        // ignoring PowerShell boilerplate like "+ CategoryInfo", "In Zeile:", etc.
+                        let err_line = stderr.lines()
+                            .map(|l| l.trim())
+                            .find(|l| !l.is_empty()
+                                && !l.starts_with("In Zeile:")
+                                && !l.starts_with("+ ")
+                                && !l.starts_with("CategoryInfo")
+                                && !l.starts_with("FullyQualifiedErrorId"))
+                            .unwrap_or("error")
+                            .to_string();
+                        err_line
                     } else {
-                        first_line  // success: just the output, no "exit 0"
+                        // Success: first stdout line, no exit code
+                        stdout.trim().lines().next().unwrap_or("").to_string()
                     };
                     display::cmd_done("⚡", "execute", &payload, exit_code == 0, &result);
-                    let _ = stderr;
                     ClientMessage::ExecResponse { request_id, stdout, stderr, exit_code }
                 }
                 Err(e) => {