diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2622b2ea..dd8230f1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Maintained by a [community of contributors](https://github.com/typescript-langua
 ## Installing
 
 ```sh
-npm install -g typescript-language-server
+npm install -g typescript-language-server typescript
 ```
 
 ## Running the language server
diff --git a/src/lsp-server.ts b/src/lsp-server.ts
index 319e11ce..d92639eb 100644
--- a/src/lsp-server.ts
+++ b/src/lsp-server.ts
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ export class LspServer {
         if (typescriptVersion) {
             this.logger.info(`Using Typescript version (${typescriptVersion.source}) ${typescriptVersion.versionString} from path "${typescriptVersion.tsServerPath}"`);
         } else {
-            throw Error('Could not find a valid tsserver version. Exiting.');
+            throw Error('Could not find a valid tsserver executable in the workspace or in the $PATH. Please ensure that the "typescript" dependency is installed in either location. Exiting.');
         }
 
         this.tspClient = new TspClient({