diff --git a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/tool/ESUsersTool.java b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/tool/ESUsersTool.java
index 883a780e9ea..88ff5a9a719 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/tool/ESUsersTool.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/tool/ESUsersTool.java
@@ -404,18 +404,26 @@ public class ESUsersTool extends CliTool {
                 }
             } else {
                 boolean unknownRolesFound = false;
+                boolean usersExist = false;
                 for (Map.Entry<String, String[]> entry : userRoles.entrySet()) {
                     String[] roles = entry.getValue();
                     Set<String> unknownRoles = Sets.difference(Sets.newHashSet(roles), knownRoles.keySet());
                     String[] markedRoles = markUnknownRoles(roles, unknownRoles);
                     terminal.println("%-15s: %s", entry.getKey(), Joiner.on(",").join(markedRoles));
                     unknownRolesFound = unknownRolesFound || !unknownRoles.isEmpty();
+                    usersExist = true;
                 }
                 // list users without roles
                 Set<String> usersWithoutRoles = Sets.newHashSet(users);
                 usersWithoutRoles.removeAll(userRoles.keySet());
                 for (String user : usersWithoutRoles) {
                     terminal.println("%-15s: -", user);
+                    usersExist = true;
+                }
+
+                if (!usersExist) {
+                    terminal.println("No users found");
+                    return ExitStatus.OK;
                 }
 
                 if (unknownRolesFound) {
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/tool/ESUsersToolTests.java b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/tool/ESUsersToolTests.java
index c7c3dff2834..b7c57bfcc68 100644
--- a/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/tool/ESUsersToolTests.java
+++ b/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/shield/authc/esusers/tool/ESUsersToolTests.java
@@ -631,6 +631,26 @@ public class ESUsersToolTests extends CliToolTestCase {
         assertThat(catchTerminalOutput.getTerminalOutput(), hasItem(not(containsString("user"))));
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testListUsersAndRoles_Cmd_NoUsers() throws Exception {
+        File usersFile = writeFile("");
+        File usersRoleFile = writeFile("");
+        Settings settings = ImmutableSettings.builder()
+                .put("shield.authc.realms.esusers.type", "esusers")
+                .put("shield.authc.realms.esusers.files.users", usersFile)
+                .put("shield.authc.realms.esusers.files.users_roles", usersRoleFile)
+                .build();
+
+        CaptureOutputTerminal terminal = new CaptureOutputTerminal();
+        ESUsersTool.ListUsersAndRoles cmd = new ESUsersTool.ListUsersAndRoles(terminal, null);
+        CliTool.ExitStatus status = execute(cmd, settings);
+
+        assertThat(status, is(CliTool.ExitStatus.OK));
+        List<String> output = terminal.getTerminalOutput();
+        assertThat(output, hasSize(1));
+        assertThat(output.get(0), equalTo("No users found\n"));
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void testListUsersAndRoles_Cmd_listSingleUserNotFound() throws Exception {
         File usersRoleFile = writeFile("admin: admin\nuser: user\nfoo:user\nbar:user\n");