diff --git a/src/wallet/lite_wallet_controller.cpp b/src/wallet/lite_wallet_controller.cpp
index 5502168..f154ffe 100644
--- a/src/wallet/lite_wallet_controller.cpp
+++ b/src/wallet/lite_wallet_controller.cpp
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ bool LiteWalletController::beginOpenExisting()
     auto resultSlot = openResult_;
     openThread_ = std::thread([bridge, servers, running, resultMutex, resultSlot]() {
         OpenOutcome outcome;
-        outcome.error = "could not reach any lite server";
+        std::string preferredError;  // error from the FIRST (preferred) server — the actionable one
         for (const auto& url : servers) {
             if (!bridge) break;
             liteLog("  connecting to " + url + " ...");
@@ -372,10 +372,14 @@ bool LiteWalletController::beginOpenExisting()
             const std::string why = call.error.empty() ? "unreachable" : call.error;
             liteLog("  " + url + ": " + why);
             if (!call.error.empty()) {
-                outcome.error = call.error;
+                if (preferredError.empty()) preferredError = call.error;  // keep the preferred one
                 if (liteOpenErrorIsWarmup(call.error)) outcome.warming = true;  // healthy, just starting
             }
         }
+        // On total failure, report the preferred server's error (not whichever broken fallback
+        // happened to be tried last), since that's the server the user expects to use.
+        if (!outcome.ok)
+            outcome.error = preferredError.empty() ? "could not reach any lite server" : preferredError;
         {
             std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lk(*resultMutex);
             *resultSlot = outcome;