diff --git a/apis/s3/src/main/java/org/jclouds/s3/handlers/ParseS3ErrorFromXmlContent.java b/apis/s3/src/main/java/org/jclouds/s3/handlers/ParseS3ErrorFromXmlContent.java
index ce59adca9d..8148d38fd3 100644
--- a/apis/s3/src/main/java/org/jclouds/s3/handlers/ParseS3ErrorFromXmlContent.java
+++ b/apis/s3/src/main/java/org/jclouds/s3/handlers/ParseS3ErrorFromXmlContent.java
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ protected Exception refineException(HttpCommand command, HttpResponse response,
       switch (response.getStatusCode()) {
          case 404:
             if (!command.getCurrentRequest().getMethod().equals("DELETE")) {
-               // TODO: parse NoSuchBucket and NoSuchKey from error?
+               String errorCode = (error != null && error.getCode() != null) ? error.getCode() : null;
                // If we have a payload/bucket/container that is not all lowercase, vhost-style URLs are not an option
                // and must be automatically converted to their path-based equivalent.  This should only be possible for
                // AWS-S3 since it is the only S3 implementation configured to allow uppercase payload/bucket/container
@@ -77,15 +77,16 @@ protected Exception refineException(HttpCommand command, HttpResponse response,
                if (isVhostStyle && !wasPathBasedRequest) {
                   String container = command.getCurrentRequest().getEndpoint().getHost();
                   String key = command.getCurrentRequest().getEndpoint().getPath();
-                  if (key == null || key.equals("/"))
+                  if ("NoSuchBucket".equals(errorCode) || key == null || key.equals("/"))
                      exception = new ContainerNotFoundException(container, message);
                   else
                      exception = new KeyNotFoundException(container, key, message);
                } else if (command.getCurrentRequest().getEndpoint().getPath()
                         .indexOf(servicePath.equals("/") ? "/" : servicePath + "/") == 0) {
                   String path = command.getCurrentRequest().getEndpoint().getPath().substring(servicePath.length());
+                  // TODO: could parse this out of error.getDetails() using BucketName and Key
                   List<String> parts = newArrayList(Splitter.on('/').omitEmptyStrings().split(path));
-                  if (parts.size() == 1) {
+                  if ("NoSuchBucket".equals(errorCode) || parts.size() == 1) {
                      exception = new ContainerNotFoundException(parts.get(0), message);
                   } else if (parts.size() > 1) {
                      exception = new KeyNotFoundException(parts.remove(0), Joiner.on('/').join(parts), message);