diff --git a/src/bootstrap/compile.rs b/src/bootstrap/compile.rs
index 72d791b5434..c28fe9022ec 100644
--- a/src/bootstrap/compile.rs
+++ b/src/bootstrap/compile.rs
@@ -1488,6 +1488,10 @@ impl Step for Assemble {
             // Ensure that `libLLVM.so` ends up in the newly created target directory,
             // so that tools using `rustc_private` can use it.
             dist::maybe_install_llvm_target(builder, target_compiler.host, &sysroot);
+            // Lower stages use `ci-rustc-sysroot`, not stageN
+            if target_compiler.stage == builder.top_stage {
+                builder.info(&format!("Creating a sysroot for stage{stage} compiler (use `rustup toolchain link 'name' build/host/stage{stage}`)", stage=target_compiler.stage));
+            }
             return target_compiler;
         }
 
@@ -1525,11 +1529,18 @@ impl Step for Assemble {
 
         let stage = target_compiler.stage;
         let host = target_compiler.host;
-        let msg = if build_compiler.host == host {
-            format!("Assembling stage{} compiler", stage)
+        let (host_info, dir_name) = if build_compiler.host == host {
+            ("".into(), "host".into())
         } else {
-            format!("Assembling stage{} compiler ({})", stage, host)
+            (format!(" ({host})"), host.to_string())
         };
+        // NOTE: "Creating a sysroot" is somewhat inconsistent with our internal terminology, since
+        // sysroots can temporarily be empty until we put the compiler inside. However,
+        // `ensure(Sysroot)` isn't really something that's user facing, so there shouldn't be any
+        // ambiguity.
+        let msg = format!(
+            "Creating a sysroot for stage{stage} compiler{host_info} (use `rustup toolchain link 'name' build/{dir_name}/stage{stage}`)"
+        );
         builder.info(&msg);
 
         // Link in all dylibs to the libdir