diff --git a/source/Calamari.Shared/Integration/Packages/NuGet/NuGetV3LibDownloader.cs b/source/Calamari.Shared/Integration/Packages/NuGet/NuGetV3LibDownloader.cs
index a18e0fc838..4b28b2e22e 100644
--- a/source/Calamari.Shared/Integration/Packages/NuGet/NuGetV3LibDownloader.cs
+++ b/source/Calamari.Shared/Integration/Packages/NuGet/NuGetV3LibDownloader.cs
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@
 using System.IO;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using Calamari.Common.Plumbing.Extensions;
-using NuGet.Commands;
 using NuGet.Packaging.Core;
 using Octopus.Versioning;
 
@@ -28,17 +27,38 @@ public static void DownloadPackage(string packageId, IVersion version, Uri feedU
 
             using (var sourceCacheContext = new SourceCacheContext() { NoCache = true })
             {
-                var providers = new SourceRepositoryDependencyProvider(sourceRepository, logger, sourceCacheContext, sourceCacheContext.IgnoreFailedSources, false);
                 var targetPath = Directory.GetParent(targetFilePath).FullName;
                 if (!Directory.Exists(targetPath))
                 {
                     Directory.CreateDirectory(targetPath);
                 }
 
+                // Resolve the downloader from FindPackageByIdResource directly rather than going through
+                // SourceRepositoryDependencyProvider. The provider unconditionally dereferences the downloader returned
+                // here, which is null when the requested version isn't on the feed, producing a bare NullReferenceException
+                // (FD-440). Calling the resource directly lets us null-check it and surface an actionable error. The
+                // provider's throttle / ignore-failed-sources behaviour isn't relevant here: Calamari passes no throttle
+                // and downloads from a single source.
+                var findPackageByIdResource = sourceRepository.GetResourceAsync<FindPackageByIdResource>(CancellationToken.None)
+                                                              .GetAwaiter()
+                                                              .GetResult();
+
+                // GetResourceAsync returns null (rather than throwing) when no provider can supply the resource for this
+                // feed, so guard it explicitly — otherwise the dereference below would resurface the very
+                // NullReferenceException this change exists to eliminate (FD-440).
+                if (findPackageByIdResource == null)
+                    throw new Exception($"The NuGet feed '{feedUri}' did not return a package lookup resource (FindPackageByIdResource). Make sure the feed URL is a valid NuGet V3 feed.");
+
+                var packageIdentity = new PackageIdentity(packageId, version.ToNuGetVersion());
+
                 string targetTempNupkg = Path.Combine(targetPath, Path.GetRandomFileName());
-                var packageDownloader =  providers.GetPackageDownloaderAsync(new PackageIdentity(packageId, version.ToNuGetVersion()), sourceCacheContext, logger, CancellationToken.None)
-                                                      .GetAwaiter()
-                                                      .GetResult();
+                var packageDownloader = findPackageByIdResource.GetPackageDownloaderAsync(packageIdentity, sourceCacheContext, logger, CancellationToken.None)
+                                                               .GetAwaiter()
+                                                               .GetResult();
+
+                if (packageDownloader == null)
+                    throw new Exception($"Package {packageId} version {version} was not found on the NuGet feed '{feedUri}'. Make sure the package version has been pushed to the feed.");
+
                 var fileCopied = packageDownloader.CopyNupkgFileToAsync(targetTempNupkg, CancellationToken.None).GetAwaiter().GetResult();
                 
                 if (!fileCopied) //I would expect any actual standard exception to be thrown above and not returned as a bool
diff --git a/source/Calamari.Tests/Fixtures/Integration/Packages/NuGetPackageDownloaderFixture.cs b/source/Calamari.Tests/Fixtures/Integration/Packages/NuGetPackageDownloaderFixture.cs
index 3111f92cab..eff60b764c 100644
--- a/source/Calamari.Tests/Fixtures/Integration/Packages/NuGetPackageDownloaderFixture.cs
+++ b/source/Calamari.Tests/Fixtures/Integration/Packages/NuGetPackageDownloaderFixture.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 using System;
 using System.Diagnostics;
+using System.IO;
 using System.Net;
 using Calamari.Common.Plumbing.FileSystem;
 using Calamari.Common.Plumbing.Variables;
@@ -64,5 +65,25 @@ public int AttemptsTheRightNumberOfTimesOnError(int maxDownloadAttempts)
 
             return calledCount;
         }
+
+        [Test]
+        [RequiresNonFreeBSDPlatform]
+        public void GivesActionableErrorWhenV3FeedIsMissingTheRequestedVersion()
+        {
+            // FD-440: requesting a version that doesn't exist on a NuGet V3 feed used to throw a bare
+            // NullReferenceException from inside the NuGet client. It should give a clear "not found" message instead.
+            var targetFilePath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), $"{Guid.NewGuid():N}.nupkg");
+
+            var ex = Assert.Throws<Exception>(() =>
+                NuGetV3LibDownloader.DownloadPackage(
+                    "Newtonsoft.Json",
+                    VersionFactory.CreateSemanticVersion("999.999.999"),
+                    new Uri("https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json"),
+                    null,
+                    targetFilePath));
+
+            ex.Should().NotBeOfType<NullReferenceException>("the missing version should surface an actionable message, not a bare NRE");
+            ex!.Message.Should().Contain("was not found");
+        }
     }
 }