diff --git a/src/core/load-dropin.c b/src/core/load-dropin.c
index c98ab4164f..062060a3b3 100644
--- a/src/core/load-dropin.c
+++ b/src/core/load-dropin.c
@@ -117,8 +117,8 @@ static int process_deps(Unit *u, UnitDependency dependency, const char *dir_suff
 
                 r = unit_add_dependency_by_name(u, dependency, entry, *p, true, UNIT_DEPENDENCY_FILE);
                 if (r < 0)
-                        log_unit_error_errno(u, r, "cannot add %s dependency on %s, ignoring: %m",
-                                             unit_dependency_to_string(dependency), entry);
+                        log_unit_warning_errno(u, r, "Cannot add %s dependency on %s, ignoring: %m",
+                                               unit_dependency_to_string(dependency), entry);
         }
 
         return 0;