diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index b0b8de1eaa6..119235eacb3 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ Deprecated
 Features added
 --------------
 
+* #8100: html: Show a better error message for failures on copying
+  html_static_files
+
 Bugs fixed
 ----------
 
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py b/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
index 923212a9948..c30aa9cfd99 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/html/__init__.py
@@ -751,18 +751,27 @@ def copy_stemmer_js(self) -> None:
                 copyfile(jsfile, path.join(self.outdir, '_static', '_stemmer.js'))
 
     def copy_theme_static_files(self, context: Dict) -> None:
+        def onerror(filename: str, error: Exception) -> None:
+            logger.warning(__('Failed to copy a file in html_static_file: %s: %r'),
+                           filename, error)
+
         if self.theme:
             for entry in self.theme.get_theme_dirs()[::-1]:
                 copy_asset(path.join(entry, 'static'),
                            path.join(self.outdir, '_static'),
-                           excluded=DOTFILES, context=context, renderer=self.templates)
+                           excluded=DOTFILES, context=context,
+                           renderer=self.templates, onerror=onerror)
 
     def copy_html_static_files(self, context: Dict) -> None:
+        def onerror(filename: str, error: Exception) -> None:
+            logger.warning(__('Failed to copy a file in html_static_file: %s: %r'),
+                           filename, error)
+
         excluded = Matcher(self.config.exclude_patterns + ["**/.*"])
         for entry in self.config.html_static_path:
             copy_asset(path.join(self.confdir, entry),
                        path.join(self.outdir, '_static'),
-                       excluded, context=context, renderer=self.templates)
+                       excluded, context=context, renderer=self.templates, onerror=onerror)
 
     def copy_html_logo(self) -> None:
         if self.config.html_logo:
diff --git a/sphinx/util/fileutil.py b/sphinx/util/fileutil.py
index d8e896d48e1..eec1ae46321 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/fileutil.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/fileutil.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 import os
 import posixpath
-from typing import Dict
+from typing import Callable, Dict
 
 from docutils.utils import relative_path
 
@@ -56,7 +56,8 @@ def copy_asset_file(source: str, destination: str,
 
 
 def copy_asset(source: str, destination: str, excluded: PathMatcher = lambda path: False,
-               context: Dict = None, renderer: "BaseRenderer" = None) -> None:
+               context: Dict = None, renderer: "BaseRenderer" = None,
+               onerror: Callable[[str, Exception], None] = None) -> None:
     """Copy asset files to destination recursively.
 
     On copying, it expands the template variables if context argument is given and
@@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ def copy_asset(source: str, destination: str, excluded: PathMatcher = lambda pat
     :param excluded: The matcher to determine the given path should be copied or not
     :param context: The template variables.  If not given, template files are simply copied
     :param renderer: The template engine.  If not given, SphinxRenderer is used by default
+    :param onerror: The error handler.
     """
     if not os.path.exists(source):
         return
@@ -90,6 +92,12 @@ def copy_asset(source: str, destination: str, excluded: PathMatcher = lambda pat
 
         for filename in files:
             if not excluded(posixpath.join(reldir, filename)):
-                copy_asset_file(posixpath.join(root, filename),
-                                posixpath.join(destination, reldir),
-                                context, renderer)
+                try:
+                    copy_asset_file(posixpath.join(root, filename),
+                                    posixpath.join(destination, reldir),
+                                    context, renderer)
+                except Exception as exc:
+                    if onerror:
+                        onerror(posixpath.join(root, filename), exc)
+                    else:
+                        raise