diff --git a/images/capi/hack/utils.sh b/images/capi/hack/utils.sh
index 1e8713ff95..6f56495797 100755
--- a/images/capi/hack/utils.sh
+++ b/images/capi/hack/utils.sh
@@ -102,9 +102,15 @@ ensure_py3() {
 
 pip3_install() {
   ensure_py3
-  # Try twice to install in case of "error: externally-managed-environment".
-  pip3 install --disable-pip-version-check --user "${@}" || \
+  if output=$(pip3 install --disable-pip-version-check --user "${@}" 2>&1); then
+    echo $output
+  elif [[ $output == *"error: externally-managed-environment"* ]]; then
+    >&2 echo "warning: externally-managed-environment, retrying pip3 install with --break-system-packages"
     pip3 install --disable-pip-version-check --user --break-system-packages "${@}"
+  else
+    >&2 echo "$output"
+    exit 1
+  fi
 }
 
 hostarch_without_darwin_arm64() {