diff --git a/main/core/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/webdav/WebDavServer.java b/main/core/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/webdav/WebDavServer.java
index f4265f80f..a02ac2bd4 100644
--- a/main/core/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/webdav/WebDavServer.java
+++ b/main/core/src/main/java/org/cryptomator/webdav/WebDavServer.java
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ public final class WebDavServer {
 			LOG.info("{} available on http://{}", workDir, uri.getRawSchemeSpecificPart());
 			return new ServletLifeCycleAdapter(servlet, uri);
 		} catch (URISyntaxException e) {
-			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Can't create URI from given workDir", e);
+			throw new IllegalStateException("Invalid hard-coded URI components.", e);
 		}
 	}