diff --git a/midx.c b/midx.c
index 7cfad04a24..8455df4f35 100644
--- a/midx.c
+++ b/midx.c
@@ -1326,17 +1326,17 @@ static int write_midx_internal(const char *object_dir,
 	}
 
 	if (preferred_pack_name) {
-		int found = 0;
+		ctx.preferred_pack_idx = -1;
+
 		for (i = 0; i < ctx.nr; i++) {
 			if (!cmp_idx_or_pack_name(preferred_pack_name,
 						  ctx.info[i].pack_name)) {
 				ctx.preferred_pack_idx = i;
-				found = 1;
 				break;
 			}
 		}
 
-		if (!found)
+		if (ctx.preferred_pack_idx == -1)
 			warning(_("unknown preferred pack: '%s'"),
 				preferred_pack_name);
 	} else if (ctx.nr &&
diff --git a/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh b/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
index 499d5d4c78..0883c7c6bd 100755
--- a/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
+++ b/t/t5319-multi-pack-index.sh
@@ -183,6 +183,18 @@ test_expect_success 'write midx with --stdin-packs' '
 
 compare_results_with_midx "mixed mode (one pack + extra)"
 
+test_expect_success 'write with no objects and preferred pack' '
+	test_when_finished "rm -rf empty" &&
+	git init empty &&
+	test_must_fail git -C empty multi-pack-index write \
+		--stdin-packs --preferred-pack=does-not-exist </dev/null 2>err &&
+	cat >expect <<-EOF &&
+	warning: unknown preferred pack: ${SQ}does-not-exist${SQ}
+	error: no pack files to index.
+	EOF
+	test_cmp expect err
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'write progress off for redirected stderr' '
 	git multi-pack-index --object-dir=$objdir write 2>err &&
 	test_line_count = 0 err