diff --git a/lib/internal/test_runner/runner.js b/lib/internal/test_runner/runner.js
index 7f50cc8521bcda..7176c4a1fcd6fc 100644
--- a/lib/internal/test_runner/runner.js
+++ b/lib/internal/test_runner/runner.js
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ const {
 } = primordials;
 
 const { spawn } = require('child_process');
+const { existsSync } = require('fs');
 const { finished } = require('internal/streams/end-of-stream');
 const { availableParallelism } = require('os');
 const { resolve, sep, isAbsolute } = require('path');
@@ -161,9 +162,20 @@ function createTestFileList(patterns, cwd) {
   });
   const results = glob.globSync();
 
-  if (hasUserSuppliedPattern && results.length === 0 && ArrayPrototypeEvery(glob.matchers, (m) => !m.hasMagic())) {
-    console.error(`Could not find '${ArrayPrototypeJoin(patterns, ', ')}'`);
-    process.exit(kGenericUserError);
+  if (hasUserSuppliedPattern) {
+    if (results.length === 0 && ArrayPrototypeEvery(glob.matchers, (m) => !m.hasMagic())) {
+      console.error(`Could not find '${ArrayPrototypeJoin(patterns, ', ')}'`);
+      process.exit(kGenericUserError);
+    }
+
+    const missing = ArrayPrototypeFilter(patterns, (pattern, i) => {
+      return !glob.matchers[i].hasMagic() && !existsSync(resolve(cwd, pattern));
+    });
+
+    if (missing.length > 0) {
+      console.error(`Could not find '${ArrayPrototypeJoin(missing, ', ')}'`);
+      process.exit(kGenericUserError);
+    }
   }
 
   return ArrayPrototypeSort(results);
diff --git a/test/parallel/test-runner-cli.js b/test/parallel/test-runner-cli.js
index f563d67d1a9a41..1a5f25a3495209 100644
--- a/test/parallel/test-runner-cli.js
+++ b/test/parallel/test-runner-cli.js
@@ -23,6 +23,42 @@ for (const isolation of ['none', 'process']) {
     assert.match(child.stderr.toString(), /^Could not find/);
   }
 
+  {
+    // A file that is not found should error even when other patterns match.
+    const args = [
+      '--test',
+      `--test-isolation=${isolation}`,
+      'a-random-file-that-does-not-exist.js',
+      join(testFixtures, 'default-behavior/test/random.cjs'),
+    ];
+    const child = spawnSync(process.execPath, args);
+
+    assert.strictEqual(child.status, 1);
+    assert.strictEqual(child.signal, null);
+    assert.strictEqual(child.stdout.toString(), '');
+    assert.match(child.stderr.toString(),
+                 /^Could not find 'a-random-file-that-does-not-exist\.js'/);
+  }
+
+  {
+    // Options after positional arguments are treated as patterns and should
+    // error instead of being silently dropped.
+    const args = [
+      '--test',
+      `--test-isolation=${isolation}`,
+      join(testFixtures, 'default-behavior/test/random.cjs'),
+      '--test-reporter',
+      'tap',
+    ];
+    const child = spawnSync(process.execPath, args);
+
+    assert.strictEqual(child.status, 1);
+    assert.strictEqual(child.signal, null);
+    assert.strictEqual(child.stdout.toString(), '');
+    assert.match(child.stderr.toString(),
+                 /^Could not find '--test-reporter, tap'/);
+  }
+
   {
     // Default behavior. node_modules is ignored. Files that don't match the
     // pattern are ignored except in test/ directories.