diff --git a/src/transformers/utils/hub.py b/src/transformers/utils/hub.py
index 0d58211da83..f6cf0a852ed 100644
--- a/src/transformers/utils/hub.py
+++ b/src/transformers/utils/hub.py
@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ from huggingface_hub.file_download import REGEX_COMMIT_HASH, http_get
 from huggingface_hub.utils import (
     EntryNotFoundError,
     GatedRepoError,
+    HFValidationError,
     LocalEntryNotFoundError,
     RepositoryNotFoundError,
     RevisionNotFoundError,
@@ -491,7 +492,10 @@ def cached_file(
             return None
 
         raise EnvironmentError(f"There was a specific connection error when trying to load {path_or_repo_id}:\n{err}")
-
+    except HFValidationError as e:
+        raise EnvironmentError(
+            f"Incorrect path_or_model_id: '{path_or_repo_id}'. Please provide either the path to a local folder or the repo_id of a model on the Hub."
+        ) from e
     return resolved_file
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_configuration_common.py b/tests/test_configuration_common.py
index 5fb93f71eb0..57521a3e7c5 100644
--- a/tests/test_configuration_common.py
+++ b/tests/test_configuration_common.py
@@ -96,6 +96,9 @@ class ConfigTester(object):
 
         self.parent.assertEqual(config_second.to_dict(), config_first.to_dict())
 
+        with self.parent.assertRaises(OSError):
+            self.config_class.from_pretrained(f".{tmpdirname}")
+
     def create_and_test_config_from_and_save_pretrained_subfolder(self):
         config_first = self.config_class(**self.inputs_dict)