diff --git a/CredentialCache.Test/GErrorTests.cs b/CredentialCache.Test/GErrorTests.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..aa3edf4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CredentialCache.Test/GErrorTests.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2023-2026 ktsu-dev contributors
+
+namespace ktsu.CredentialCache.Test;
+
+using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
+using System.Runtime.Versioning;
+using ktsu.CredentialCache.Storage;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Covers reading the message out of a glib <c>GError</c>, which the Linux store does on
+/// every libsecret failure. The GError here is hand-built, so this runs on every platform.
+/// </summary>
+[TestClass]
+public class GErrorTests
+{
+	// GError is { guint32 domain; gint code; gchar *message; }, so the message pointer
+	// sits at offset 8 on both 32-bit and 64-bit, with no padding before it.
+	private const int MessageOffset = sizeof(uint) + sizeof(int);
+
+	[TestMethod]
+	public void ReadMessageReturnsTheMessageField()
+	{
+		IntPtr message = Marshal.StringToCoTaskMemUTF8("Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11 $DISPLAY");
+
+		// One pointer longer than the struct and zeroed, so a read past the end of the struct
+		// finds a null pointer rather than whatever happens to follow the allocation.
+		int size = MessageOffset + (IntPtr.Size * 2);
+		IntPtr error = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(size);
+		try
+		{
+			Marshal.Copy(new byte[size], 0, error, size);
+			Marshal.WriteInt32(error, 0, 42);
+			Marshal.WriteInt32(error, sizeof(uint), 7);
+			Marshal.WriteIntPtr(error, MessageOffset, message);
+
+			Assert.AreEqual("Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11 $DISPLAY", GError.ReadMessage(error));
+		}
+		finally
+		{
+			Marshal.FreeHGlobal(error);
+			Marshal.FreeCoTaskMem(message);
+		}
+	}
+
+	[TestMethod]
+	public void ReadMessageReturnsNullForANullMessage()
+	{
+		int size = MessageOffset + (IntPtr.Size * 2);
+		IntPtr error = Marshal.AllocHGlobal(size);
+		try
+		{
+			Marshal.Copy(new byte[size], 0, error, size);
+
+			Assert.IsNull(GError.ReadMessage(error));
+		}
+		finally
+		{
+			Marshal.FreeHGlobal(error);
+		}
+	}
+
+	[TestMethod]
+	public void ThrowIfErrorReportsTheMessageOfARealGError()
+	{
+		if (!OperatingSystem.IsLinux())
+		{
+			Assert.Inconclusive("GError comes from glib, which is only loaded on Linux.");
+			return;
+		}
+
+		AssertThrowIfErrorReportsTheMessage();
+	}
+
+	// Built by glib itself rather than by hand, so this checks the real layout. glib frees
+	// the error inside ThrowIfError.
+	[SupportedOSPlatform("linux")]
+	private static void AssertThrowIfErrorReportsTheMessage()
+	{
+		IntPtr glib = NativeLibrary.Load("libglib-2.0.so.0");
+		GErrorNewLiteral newLiteral = Marshal.GetDelegateForFunctionPointer<GErrorNewLiteral>(
+			NativeLibrary.GetExport(glib, "g_error_new_literal"));
+		IntPtr error = newLiteral(1, 2, "Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11 $DISPLAY");
+
+		CredentialStoreException exception = Assert.ThrowsExactly<CredentialStoreException>(
+			() => LinuxSecretServiceCredentialStore.ThrowIfError(error, "secret_password_lookup_sync"));
+
+		Assert.AreEqual("secret_password_lookup_sync failed: Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11 $DISPLAY", exception.Message);
+	}
+
+	private delegate IntPtr GErrorNewLiteral(uint domain, int code, [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPUTF8Str)] string message);
+}
diff --git a/CredentialCache/Storage/GError.cs b/CredentialCache/Storage/GError.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5efe1a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CredentialCache/Storage/GError.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2023-2026 ktsu-dev contributors
+
+namespace ktsu.CredentialCache.Storage;
+
+using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// glib's <c>GError</c>: <c>{ guint32 domain; gint code; gchar *message; }</c>.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Declared rather than read at a hand-computed offset. The message pointer follows two
+/// 4-byte fields, so it sits at offset 8 on both 32-bit and 64-bit; an offset derived from
+/// <see cref="IntPtr.Size"/> reads past the end of the struct on 64-bit.
+/// </remarks>
+[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
+internal readonly struct GError
+{
+	internal readonly uint Domain;
+	internal readonly int Code;
+	internal readonly IntPtr Message;
+
+	/// <summary>
+	/// Reads the message of the <c>GError</c> at <paramref name="error"/>.
+	/// </summary>
+	/// <param name="error">A non-null pointer to a <c>GError</c>.</param>
+	/// <returns>The message, or <see langword="null"/> if the error has none.</returns>
+	internal static string? ReadMessage(IntPtr error) =>
+		Marshal.PtrToStringUTF8(Marshal.PtrToStructure<GError>(error).Message);
+}
diff --git a/CredentialCache/Storage/LinuxSecretServiceCredentialStore.cs b/CredentialCache/Storage/LinuxSecretServiceCredentialStore.cs
index 6e1b930..e4e7079 100644
--- a/CredentialCache/Storage/LinuxSecretServiceCredentialStore.cs
+++ b/CredentialCache/Storage/LinuxSecretServiceCredentialStore.cs
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ public bool Remove(PersonaGUID persona)
 		return removed;
 	}
 
-	private static void ThrowIfError(IntPtr error, string operation)
+	internal static void ThrowIfError(IntPtr error, string operation)
 	{
 		if (error == IntPtr.Zero)
 		{
@@ -139,8 +139,7 @@ private static void ThrowIfError(IntPtr error, string operation)
 		string? message = null;
 		try
 		{
-			IntPtr messagePtr = Marshal.ReadIntPtr(error, IntPtr.Size * 2);
-			message = Marshal.PtrToStringUTF8(messagePtr);
+			message = GError.ReadMessage(error);
 		}
 		catch
 		{