diff --git a/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/nxos.py b/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/nxos.py
index 2f8c40ba27b..f7c23c55d6f 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/nxos.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/plugins/httpapi/nxos.py
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ def handle_response(response):
     if response['ins_api'].get('outputs'):
         for output in to_list(response['ins_api']['outputs']['output']):
             if output['code'] != '200':
-                raise ConnectionError('%s: %s' % (output['input'], output['msg']))
+                raise ConnectionError('%s: %s' % (output['input'], output['msg']), code=output['code'])
             elif 'body' in output:
                 result = output['body']
                 if isinstance(result, dict):