diff --git a/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/script b/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/script
--- a/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/script
+++ b/usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/script
@@ -115,12 +115,13 @@
 bsdinstall mount
 
 # Fetch missing distribution files, if any
-exec 3>&1
-export BSDINSTALL_DISTDIR=$(`dirname $0`/fetchmissingdists 2>&1 1>&3)
-FETCH_RESULT=$?
-exec 3>&-
-
-[ $FETCH_RESULT -ne 0 ] && error "Could not fetch remote distributions"
+(
+	exec 3>&1
+	export BSDINSTALL_DISTDIR=$(`dirname $0`/fetchmissingdists 2>&1 1>&3)
+	FETCH_RESULT=$?
+	exec 3>&-
+	return $FETCH_RESULT
+) || error "Could not fetch remote distributions"
 
 # Unpack distributions
 bsdinstall checksum