diff --git a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/UploadPack.java b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/UploadPack.java
index f0ee97417..fd1de2956 100644
--- a/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/UploadPack.java
+++ b/org.eclipse.jgit/src/org/eclipse/jgit/transport/UploadPack.java
@@ -810,6 +810,8 @@ public class UploadPack {
 			adv.advertiseCapability(OPTION_ALLOW_TIP_SHA1_IN_WANT);
 		adv.setDerefTags(true);
 		advertised = adv.send(getAdvertisedOrDefaultRefs());
+		if (adv.isEmpty())
+			adv.advertiseId(ObjectId.zeroId(), "capabilities^{}"); //$NON-NLS-1$
 		adv.end();
 	}