diff --git a/programs/pkey/rsa_sign_pss.c b/programs/pkey/rsa_sign_pss.c
index fecfcc2..7e8ac4a 100644
--- a/programs/pkey/rsa_sign_pss.c
+++ b/programs/pkey/rsa_sign_pss.c
@@ -101,7 +101,8 @@
     if( ( ret = pk_parse_keyfile( &pk, argv[1], "" ) ) != 0 )
     {
         ret = 1;
-        printf( " failed\n  ! Could not open '%s'\n", argv[1] );
+        printf( " failed\n  ! Could not read key from '%s'\n", argv[1] );
+        printf( "  ! pk_parse_public_keyfile returned %d\n\n", ret );
         goto exit;
     }
 
@@ -112,6 +113,8 @@
         goto exit;
     }
 
+    rsa_set_padding( pk_rsa( pk ), RSA_PKCS_V21, POLARSSL_MD_SHA1 );
+
     /*
      * Compute the SHA-1 hash of the input file,
      * then calculate the RSA signature of the hash.
diff --git a/programs/pkey/rsa_verify_pss.c b/programs/pkey/rsa_verify_pss.c
index 2ac5a5b..b41bcf8 100644
--- a/programs/pkey/rsa_verify_pss.c
+++ b/programs/pkey/rsa_verify_pss.c
@@ -81,7 +81,8 @@
 
     if( ( ret = pk_parse_public_keyfile( &pk, argv[1] ) ) != 0 )
     {
-        printf( " failed\n  ! pk_parse_public_keyfile returned %d\n\n", ret );
+        printf( " failed\n  ! Could not read key from '%s'\n", argv[1] );
+        printf( "  ! pk_parse_public_keyfile returned %d\n\n", ret );
         goto exit;
     }
 
@@ -92,6 +93,8 @@
         goto exit;
     }
 
+    rsa_set_padding( pk_rsa( pk ), RSA_PKCS_V21, POLARSSL_MD_SHA1 );
+
     /*
      * Extract the RSA signature from the text file
      */