diff --git a/provisioner/shell/provisioner.go b/provisioner/shell/provisioner.go
index 168c1c0e4..b022c94fc 100644
--- a/provisioner/shell/provisioner.go
+++ b/provisioner/shell/provisioner.go
@@ -266,6 +266,9 @@ func (p *Provisioner) Provision(ctx context.Context, ui packer.Ui, comm packer.C
 			p.config.envVarFile = remoteVFName
 			return nil
 		})
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Create environment variables to set before executing the command