diff --git a/bin/tests/system/rndc/tests.sh b/bin/tests/system/rndc/tests.sh
index d1c0b54d12..9fd84ede0a 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/rndc/tests.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/rndc/tests.sh
@@ -695,5 +695,16 @@ lines=`cat rndc.out.test$n | wc -l`
 if [ $ret != 0 ]; then echo_i "failed"; fi
 status=`expr $status + $ret`
 
+n=`expr $n + 1`
+echo_i "check 'rndc retransfer' of primary error message ($n)"
+ret=0
+$RNDCCMD 10.53.0.2 retransfer nil > rndc.out.test$n 2>&1 && ret=1
+grep "rndc: 'retransfer' failed: failure" rndc.out.test$n > /dev/null || ret=1
+grep "retransfer: inappropriate zone type: primary" rndc.out.test$n > /dev/null || ret=1
+lines=`cat rndc.out.test$n | wc -l`
+[ ${lines:-0} -eq 2 ] || ret=1
+if [ $ret != 0 ]; then echo_i "failed"; fi
+status=`expr $status + $ret`
+
 echo_i "exit status: $status"
 [ $status -eq 0 ] || exit 1