diff --git a/rpc/error.go b/rpc/error.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c3ab7b1a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rpc/error.go
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+package rpc
+
+// This is a type that wraps error types so that they can be messaged
+// across RPC channels. Since "error" is an interface, we can't always
+// gob-encode the underlying structure. This is a valid error interface
+// implementer that we will push across.
+type BasicError struct {
+	Message string
+}
+
+func NewBasicError(err error) *BasicError {
+	if err == nil {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	return &BasicError{err.Error()}
+}
+
+func (e *BasicError) Error() string {
+	return e.Message
+}
diff --git a/rpc/error_test.go b/rpc/error_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8ca8b60eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rpc/error_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package rpc
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestBasicError_ImplementsError(t *testing.T) {
+	var _ error = new(BasicError)
+}
+
+func TestBasicError_MatchesMessage(t *testing.T) {
+	err := errors.New("foo")
+	wrapped := NewBasicError(err)
+
+	if wrapped.Error() != err.Error() {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", wrapped.Error())
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNewBasicError_nil(t *testing.T) {
+	r := NewBasicError(nil)
+	if r != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", r)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/rpc/resource_provider.go b/rpc/resource_provider.go
index c1026dd05..c52a965e6 100644
--- a/rpc/resource_provider.go
+++ b/rpc/resource_provider.go
@@ -17,8 +17,11 @@ func (p *ResourceProvider) Configure(c map[string]interface{}) ([]string, error)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	if resp.Error != nil {
+		err = resp.Error
+	}
 
-	return resp.Warnings, resp.Error
+	return resp.Warnings, err
 }
 
 type ResourceProviderServer struct {
@@ -27,7 +30,7 @@ type ResourceProviderServer struct {
 
 type ResourceProviderConfigureResponse struct {
 	Warnings []string
-	Error    error
+	Error    *BasicError
 }
 
 func (s *ResourceProviderServer) Configure(
@@ -36,7 +39,7 @@ func (s *ResourceProviderServer) Configure(
 	warnings, err := s.Provider.Configure(config)
 	*reply = ResourceProviderConfigureResponse{
 		Warnings: warnings,
-		Error:    err,
+		Error:    NewBasicError(err),
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/rpc/resource_provider_test.go b/rpc/resource_provider_test.go
index 624255983..9e2932ba7 100644
--- a/rpc/resource_provider_test.go
+++ b/rpc/resource_provider_test.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package rpc
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	"reflect"
 	"testing"
 
@@ -32,3 +33,65 @@ func TestResourceProvider_configure(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", e)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestResourceProvider_configure_errors(t *testing.T) {
+	p := new(terraform.MockResourceProvider)
+	client, server := testClientServer(t)
+	name, err := Register(server, p)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+	provider := &ResourceProvider{Client: client, Name: name}
+
+	p.ConfigureReturnError = errors.New("foo")
+
+	// Configure
+	config := map[string]interface{}{"foo": "bar"}
+	w, e := provider.Configure(config)
+	if !p.ConfigureCalled {
+		t.Fatal("configure should be called")
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(p.ConfigureConfig, config) {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", p.ConfigureConfig)
+	}
+	if w != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", w)
+	}
+	if e == nil {
+		t.Fatal("should have error")
+	}
+	if e.Error() != "foo" {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %s", e)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestResourceProvider_configure_warnings(t *testing.T) {
+	p := new(terraform.MockResourceProvider)
+	client, server := testClientServer(t)
+	name, err := Register(server, p)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("err: %s", err)
+	}
+	provider := &ResourceProvider{Client: client, Name: name}
+
+	p.ConfigureReturnWarnings = []string{"foo", "bar"}
+
+	// Configure
+	config := map[string]interface{}{"foo": "bar"}
+	w, e := provider.Configure(config)
+	if !p.ConfigureCalled {
+		t.Fatal("configure should be called")
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(p.ConfigureConfig, config) {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", p.ConfigureConfig)
+	}
+	if w == nil {
+		t.Fatal("should have warnings")
+	}
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(w, []string{"foo", "bar"}) {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", w)
+	}
+	if e != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("bad: %#v", e)
+	}
+}