diff --git a/python/pyspark/mllib/tests.py b/python/pyspark/mllib/tests.py
index 5c20e100e144f9b39d471fd6a3b041c10289ebf4..463faf7b6f520358b5a6da5026a3aff739233eb7 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/mllib/tests.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/mllib/tests.py
@@ -25,7 +25,11 @@ import array as pyarray
 from numpy import array, array_equal
 
 if sys.version_info[:2] <= (2, 6):
-    import unittest2 as unittest
+    try:
+        import unittest2 as unittest
+    except ImportError:
+        sys.stderr.write('Please install unittest2 to test with Python 2.6 or earlier')
+        sys.exit(1)
 else:
     import unittest
 
diff --git a/python/pyspark/tests.py b/python/pyspark/tests.py
index 7f05d48ade2b3042dade1007f30b303b9bdcf1f5..ceab57464f013fc6ce5ee4546cf89203908ac962 100644
--- a/python/pyspark/tests.py
+++ b/python/pyspark/tests.py
@@ -34,7 +34,11 @@ import random
 from platform import python_implementation
 
 if sys.version_info[:2] <= (2, 6):
-    import unittest2 as unittest
+    try:
+        import unittest2 as unittest
+    except ImportError:
+        sys.stderr.write('Please install unittest2 to test with Python 2.6 or earlier')
+        sys.exit(1)
 else:
     import unittest