diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/FileUserPasswdStore.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/FileUserPasswdStore.java
index 0e146de2a64..8bd49ae52d6 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/FileUserPasswdStore.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/FileUserPasswdStore.java
@@ -117,7 +117,11 @@ public class FileUserPasswdStore extends AbstractComponent implements UserPasswd
             users.put(username, hash.toCharArray());
         }
 
-        return users.build();
+        ImmutableMap<String, char[]> usersMap = users.build();
+        if (logger != null && usersMap.isEmpty()){
+            logger.warn("No users found in file [" + path.toAbsolutePath() + "].  Use bin/shield/esusers to add users and role mappings");
+        }
+        return usersMap;
     }
 
     public static void writeFile(Map<String, char[]> esUsers, Path path) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/FileUserPasswdStoreTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/FileUserPasswdStoreTests.java
index 21a30418e8a..29dc163c68f 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/FileUserPasswdStoreTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/FileUserPasswdStoreTests.java
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 package org.elasticsearch.shield.authc.esusers;
 
 import com.carrotsearch.ant.tasks.junit4.dependencies.com.google.common.base.Charsets;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLogger;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.logging.ESLoggerFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ImmutableSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
@@ -29,6 +31,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.CountDownLatch;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.*;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
 
 /**
  *
@@ -116,4 +119,15 @@ public class FileUserPasswdStoreTests extends ElasticsearchTestCase {
         assertThat(users, notNullValue());
         assertThat(users.keySet(), hasSize(1));
     }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testParseEmptyFile() throws Exception {
+        File empty = this.tempFolder.newFile();
+        Path path = Paths.get(getClass().getResource("users").toURI());
+        ESLogger log = ESLoggerFactory.getLogger("test");
+        log = spy(log);
+        Map<String, char[]> users = FileUserPasswdStore.parseFile(empty.toPath(), log);
+
+        verify(log, times(1)).warn(contains("No users found"));
+    }
 }