diff --git a/etc/rc.d/auto_linklocal b/etc/rc.d/auto_linklocal
index 8278696d741a..28d03c0cd6f0 100644
--- a/etc/rc.d/auto_linklocal
+++ b/etc/rc.d/auto_linklocal
@@ -18,7 +18,10 @@ stop_cmd=":"
 auto_linklocal_start()
 {
 	if ! checkyesno ipv6_enable && ${SYSCTL} net.inet6 > /dev/null 2>&1; then
-		${SYSCTL_W} net.inet6.ip6.auto_linklocal=0
+		if ! ${SYSCTL_W} net.inet6.ip6.auto_linklocal=0 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+			warn "failed to set sysctl(8)"
+			return 1
+		fi
 		laddr=`network6_getladdr lo0`
 		if [ -z "${laddr}" ]; then
 			ifconfig lo0 inet6 fe80::1 prefixlen 64
diff --git a/etc/rc.d/power_profile b/etc/rc.d/power_profile
index 7f64b7229575..03d36be5b380 100644
--- a/etc/rc.d/power_profile
+++ b/etc/rc.d/power_profile
@@ -50,7 +50,11 @@ sysctl_set ()
 	esac
 
 	# Set the desired value
-	[ -n "${value}" ] && sysctl ${node}=${value}
+	if [ -n "${value}" ]; then
+		if ! sysctl ${node}=${value} > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+			warn "unable to set ${node}=${value}"
+		fi
+	fi
 }
 
 if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
diff --git a/etc/rc.d/sysctl b/etc/rc.d/sysctl
index f83d7f8c83d2..c55cc846f46a 100644
--- a/etc/rc.d/sysctl
+++ b/etc/rc.d/sysctl
@@ -36,7 +36,9 @@ sysctl_start()
 					${val})
 						;;
 					*)
-						sysctl "${var}"
+						if ! sysctl "${var}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+							warn "unable to set ${var}"
+						fi
 						;;
 					esac
 				elif [ "$1" = "last" ]; then
diff --git a/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c b/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c
index 9dcfcb06bfd9..bcb5a119b056 100644
--- a/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c
+++ b/sbin/sysctl/sysctl.c
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ static const char rcsid[] =
 #include <unistd.h>
 
 static int	aflag, bflag, dflag, eflag, hflag, Nflag, nflag, oflag;
-static int	qflag, xflag;
+static int	qflag, xflag, warncount;
 
 static int	oidfmt(int *, int, char *, u_int *);
 static void	parse(char *);
@@ -146,9 +146,11 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 		exit(sysctl_all(0, 0));
 	if (argc == 0)
 		usage();
+
+	warncount = 0;
 	while (argc-- > 0)
 		parse(*argv++);
-	exit(0);
+	exit(warncount);
 }
 
 /*
@@ -304,6 +306,7 @@ parse(char *string)
 					string);
 			default:
 				warn("%s", string);
+				warncount++;
 				return;
 			}
 		}