diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/transforms/ptransform.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/transforms/ptransform.py
index 9c5306e143ec..94e9a0644d04 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/transforms/ptransform.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/transforms/ptransform.py
@@ -883,8 +883,15 @@ def __init__(self, fn, *args, **kwargs):
     # Ensure fn and side inputs are picklable for remote execution.
     try:
       self.fn = pickler.roundtrip(self.fn)
-    except RuntimeError as e:
-      raise RuntimeError('Unable to pickle fn %s: %s' % (self.fn, e))
+    except (RuntimeError, TypeError, Exception) as e:
+      raise RuntimeError(
+          'Unable to pickle fn %s: %s. '
+          'User code must be serializable (picklable) for distributed '
+          'execution. This usually happens when lambdas or closures capture '
+          'non-serializable objects like file handles, database connections, '
+          'or thread locks. Try: (1) using module-level functions instead of '
+          'lambdas, (2) initializing resources in setup() methods, '
+          '(3) checking what your closure captures.' % (self.fn, e)) from e
 
     self.args = pickler.roundtrip(self.args)
     self.kwargs = pickler.roundtrip(self.kwargs)
diff --git a/sdks/python/apache_beam/transforms/ptransform_test.py b/sdks/python/apache_beam/transforms/ptransform_test.py
index 9a9bf6ff0a74..8c2acefccdb3 100644
--- a/sdks/python/apache_beam/transforms/ptransform_test.py
+++ b/sdks/python/apache_beam/transforms/ptransform_test.py
@@ -163,6 +163,25 @@ def test_do_with_side_input_as_keyword_arg(self):
           lambda x, addon: [x + addon], addon=pvalue.AsSingleton(side))
       assert_that(result, equal_to([11, 12, 13]))
 
+  def test_callable_non_serializable_error_message(self):
+    class NonSerializable:
+      def __getstate__(self):
+        raise RuntimeError('nope')
+
+    bad = NonSerializable()
+
+    with self.assertRaises(RuntimeError) as context:
+      _ = beam.Map(lambda x: bad)
+
+    message = str(context.exception)
+    self.assertIn('Unable to pickle fn', message)
+    self.assertIn(
+        'User code must be serializable (picklable) for distributed execution.',
+        message)
+    self.assertIn('non-serializable objects like file handles', message)
+    self.assertIn(
+        'Try: (1) using module-level functions instead of lambdas', message)
+
   def test_do_with_do_fn_returning_string_raises_warning(self):
     ex_details = r'.*Returning a str from a ParDo or FlatMap is discouraged.'