diff --git a/Modules/UntarFile.cmake b/Modules/UntarFile.cmake
index 9f8e4df6a..df33db8d3 100644
--- a/Modules/UntarFile.cmake
+++ b/Modules/UntarFile.cmake
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ execute_process(COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E tar ${args} ${filename}
   RESULT_VARIABLE rv)
 
 if(NOT rv EQUAL 0)
+  file(REMOVE_RECURSE "${ut_dir}")
   message(FATAL_ERROR "error: untar of '${filename}' failed")
 endif()