diff --git a/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status.go b/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status.go
index 96ff458fc..2c4ebfd44 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status.go
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ func statusRun(opts *StatusOptions) error {
 
 	if !isHostnameFound {
 		fmt.Fprintf(stderr,
-			"You are not logged into any GitHub hosts. Run %s to authenticate.\n", cs.Bold(fmt.Sprintf("gh auth login -h %s", opts.Hostname)))
+			"Hostname %q not found among authenticated GitHub hosts\n", opts.Hostname)
 		return cmdutil.SilentError
 	}
 
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status_test.go b/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status_test.go
index 6974770dc..f890b1672 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status_test.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/auth/status/status_test.go
@@ -190,6 +190,17 @@ func Test_statusRun(t *testing.T) {
 					httpmock.StringResponse(`{"data":{"viewer":{"login":"tess"}}}`))
 			},
 			wantErrOut: regexp.MustCompile(`(?s)Token: xyz456.*Token: abc123`),
+		}, {
+			name: "missing hostname",
+			opts: &StatusOptions{
+				Hostname: "github.example.com",
+			},
+			cfg: func(c config.Config) {
+				_ = c.Set("github.com", "oauth_token", "abc123")
+			},
+			httpStubs:  func(reg *httpmock.Registry) {},
+			wantErrOut: regexp.MustCompile(`(?s)Hostname "github.example.com" not found among authenticated GitHub hosts`),
+			wantErr:    regexp.MustCompile(``),
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -241,9 +252,9 @@ func Test_statusRun(t *testing.T) {
 				if tt.wantErr != nil {
 					assert.True(t, tt.wantErr.MatchString(err.Error()))
 					return
-				} else {
-					t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %s", err)
 				}
+
+				t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %s", err)
 			}
 
 			if tt.wantErrOut == nil {