diff --git a/src/libstore/remote-store.cc b/src/libstore/remote-store.cc
index 58f72beb9..a639346d1 100644
--- a/src/libstore/remote-store.cc
+++ b/src/libstore/remote-store.cc
@@ -172,7 +172,24 @@ void RemoteStore::ConnectionHandle::processStderr(Sink * sink, Source * source,
     auto ex = handle->processStderr(sink, source, flush);
     if (ex) {
         daemonException = true;
-        std::rethrow_exception(ex);
+        try {
+            std::rethrow_exception(ex);
+        } catch (const Error & e) {
+            // Nix versions before #4628 did not have an adequate behavior for reporting that the derivation format was upgraded.
+            // To avoid having to add compatibility logic in many places, we expect to catch almost all occurrences of the
+            // old incomprehensible error here, so that we can explain to users what's going on when their daemon is
+            // older than #4628 (2023).
+            if (experimentalFeatureSettings.isEnabled(Xp::DynamicDerivations) &&
+                GET_PROTOCOL_MINOR(handle->daemonVersion) <= 35)
+            {
+                auto m = e.msg();
+                if (m.find("parsing derivation") != std::string::npos &&
+                    m.find("expected string") != std::string::npos &&
+                    m.find("Derive([") != std::string::npos)
+                    throw Error("%s, this might be because the daemon is too old to understand dependencies on dynamic derivations. Check to see if the raw dervation is in the form '%s'", std::move(m), "DrvWithVersion(..)");
+            }
+            throw;
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/dyn-drv/local.mk b/tests/dyn-drv/local.mk
index 0ce7cd37d..6b435499b 100644
--- a/tests/dyn-drv/local.mk
+++ b/tests/dyn-drv/local.mk
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@ dyn-drv-tests := \
   $(d)/recursive-mod-json.sh \
   $(d)/build-built-drv.sh \
   $(d)/eval-outputOf.sh \
-  $(d)/dep-built-drv.sh
+  $(d)/dep-built-drv.sh \
+  $(d)/old-daemon-error-hack.sh
 
 install-tests-groups += dyn-drv
 
diff --git a/tests/dyn-drv/old-daemon-error-hack.nix b/tests/dyn-drv/old-daemon-error-hack.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c9d4a62d4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/dyn-drv/old-daemon-error-hack.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+with import ./config.nix;
+
+# A simple content-addressed derivation.
+# The derivation can be arbitrarily modified by passing a different `seed`,
+# but the output will always be the same
+rec {
+  stub = mkDerivation {
+    name = "stub";
+    buildCommand = ''
+      echo stub > $out
+    '';
+  };
+  wrapper = mkDerivation {
+    name = "has-dynamic-drv-dep";
+    buildCommand = ''
+      exit 1 # we're not building this derivation
+      ${builtins.outputOf stub.outPath "out"}
+    '';
+  };
+}
diff --git a/tests/dyn-drv/old-daemon-error-hack.sh b/tests/dyn-drv/old-daemon-error-hack.sh
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..43b049973
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/dyn-drv/old-daemon-error-hack.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Purposely bypassing our usual common for this subgroup
+source ../common.sh
+
+# Need backend to support text-hashing too
+isDaemonNewer "2.18.0pre20230906" && skipTest "Daemon is too new"
+
+enableFeatures "ca-derivations dynamic-derivations"
+
+restartDaemon
+
+expectStderr 1 nix-instantiate --read-write-mode ./old-daemon-error-hack.nix | grepQuiet "the daemon is too old to understand dependencies on dynamic derivations"