diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/__tests__/dev.spec.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/__tests__/dev.spec.ts
index 66f1b76e6f7f47..9411c004b951b3 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/__tests__/dev.spec.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/__tests__/dev.spec.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import { createServer, resolveConfig } from '..'
 import type { ViteDevServer } from '..'
 import { promiseWithResolvers } from '../../shared/utils'
 import { createLogger } from '../logger'
+import { DevEnvironment } from '../server/environment'
 import { normalizePath } from '../utils'
 
 describe('resolveBuildEnvironmentOptions in dev', () => {
@@ -154,6 +155,41 @@ describe('the dev server', () => {
     ).rejects.toThrow('buildStart failed')
   })
 
+  test("logs watcher 'error' events during environment initialization", async () => {
+    const error = new Error('watch failed')
+    const logger = createLogger('error')
+    logger.error = vi.fn()
+
+    class WatcherErrorEnvironment extends DevEnvironment {
+      override async init(
+        options?: Parameters<DevEnvironment['init']>[0],
+      ): Promise<void> {
+        options?.watcher?.emit('error', error)
+        await super.init(options)
+      }
+    }
+
+    server = await createServer({
+      configFile: false,
+      root: import.meta.dirname,
+      customLogger: logger,
+      optimizeDeps: { noDiscovery: true },
+      environments: {
+        ssr: {
+          dev: {
+            createEnvironment: (name, config) =>
+              new WatcherErrorEnvironment(name, config, { hot: false }),
+          },
+        },
+      },
+      server: { middlewareMode: true, ws: false },
+    })
+
+    expect(logger.error).toHaveBeenCalledWith(
+      expect.stringContaining('file watcher error: watch failed'),
+    )
+  })
+
   test('resolves the server URLs before the httpServer listening events are called', async () => {
     expect.assertions(1)
 
diff --git a/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts b/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts
index 2779716cbc5899..9cad2cf24f6145 100644
--- a/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts
+++ b/packages/vite/src/node/server/index.ts
@@ -600,6 +600,10 @@ export async function _createServer(
       )
     : createNoopWatcher(resolvedWatchOptions)
 
+  watcher.on('error', (error: Error) => {
+    config.logger.error(colors.red(`file watcher error: ${error.message}`))
+  })
+
   const environments: Record<string, DevEnvironment> = {}
 
   await Promise.all(