diff --git a/changes/fix-16335-copy b/changes/fix-16335-copy
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..69e4d38ce7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changes/fix-16335-copy
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- Updates copy in `fleetctl` error when attempting to upload malformed profiles.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/server/service/integration_mdm_test.go b/server/service/integration_mdm_test.go
index 80d875cb79..9e88c14bf9 100644
--- a/server/service/integration_mdm_test.go
+++ b/server/service/integration_mdm_test.go
@@ -11205,14 +11205,14 @@ func (s *integrationMDMTestSuite) TestBatchSetMDMProfiles() {
 		{Name: "N3", Contents: []byte(`<Exec></Exec>`)},
 	}}, http.StatusUnprocessableEntity, "team_id", strconv.Itoa(int(tm.ID)))
 	errMsg = extractServerErrorText(res.Body)
-	require.Contains(t, errMsg, "Only <Replace> supported as a top level element")
+	require.Contains(t, errMsg, "Windows configuration profiles can only have <Replace> or <Add> top level elements.")
 
 	// invalid xml
 	res = s.Do("POST", "/api/v1/fleet/mdm/profiles/batch", batchSetMDMProfilesRequest{Profiles: []fleet.MDMProfileBatchPayload{
 		{Name: "N3", Contents: []byte(`foo`)},
 	}}, http.StatusUnprocessableEntity, "team_id", strconv.Itoa(int(tm.ID)))
 	errMsg = extractServerErrorText(res.Body)
-	require.Contains(t, errMsg, "Only <Replace> supported as a top level element")
+	require.Contains(t, errMsg, "Windows configuration profiles can only have <Replace> or <Add> top level elements.")
 
 	// successfully apply windows and macOS a profiles for the team, but it's a dry run
 	s.Do("POST", "/api/v1/fleet/mdm/profiles/batch", batchSetMDMProfilesRequest{Profiles: []fleet.MDMProfileBatchPayload{
@@ -11332,14 +11332,14 @@ func (s *integrationMDMTestSuite) TestBatchSetMDMProfilesBackwardsCompat() {
 		"N3": []byte(`<Exec></Exec>`),
 	}}, http.StatusUnprocessableEntity, "team_id", strconv.Itoa(int(tm.ID)))
 	errMsg = extractServerErrorText(res.Body)
-	require.Contains(t, errMsg, "Only <Replace> supported as a top level element")
+	require.Contains(t, errMsg, "Windows configuration profiles can only have <Replace> or <Add> top level elements.")
 
 	// invalid xml
 	res = s.Do("POST", "/api/v1/fleet/mdm/profiles/batch", map[string]any{"profiles": map[string][]byte{
 		"N3": []byte(`foo`),
 	}}, http.StatusUnprocessableEntity, "team_id", strconv.Itoa(int(tm.ID)))
 	errMsg = extractServerErrorText(res.Body)
-	require.Contains(t, errMsg, "Only <Replace> supported as a top level element")
+	require.Contains(t, errMsg, "Windows configuration profiles can only have <Replace> or <Add> top level elements.")
 
 	// successfully apply windows and macOS a profiles for the team, but it's a dry run
 	s.Do("POST", "/api/v1/fleet/mdm/profiles/batch", map[string]any{"profiles": map[string][]byte{
diff --git a/server/service/mdm.go b/server/service/mdm.go
index 3f1bf6aab0..44eead8dfc 100644
--- a/server/service/mdm.go
+++ b/server/service/mdm.go
@@ -1695,7 +1695,7 @@ func validateProfiles(profiles []fleet.MDMProfileBatchPayload) error {
 		platform := mdm.GetRawProfilePlatform(profile.Contents)
 		if platform != "darwin" && platform != "windows" {
 			// TODO(roberto): there's ongoing feedback with Marko about improving this message, as it's too windows specific
-			return fleet.NewInvalidArgumentError("mdm", "Only <Replace> supported as a top level element. Make sure you don’t have other top level elements.")
+			return fleet.NewInvalidArgumentError("mdm", "Windows configuration profiles can only have <Replace> or <Add> top level elements.")
 		}
 	}