diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseExecutionException.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseExecutionException.java
index 9e4f70cf19b..3a4011ed44d 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseExecutionException.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/SearchPhaseExecutionException.java
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ public class SearchPhaseExecutionException extends ElasticSearchException {
 
     private static final String buildMessage(String phaseName, String msg, ShardSearchFailure[] shardFailures) {
         StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
-        sb.append("Failed to execute [").append(phaseName).append("] ").append(msg);
+        sb.append("Failed to execute phase [").append(phaseName).append("], ").append(msg);
         if (shardFailures != null && shardFailures.length > 0) {
             sb.append("; shardFailures ");
             for (ShardSearchFailure shardFailure : shardFailures) {
diff --git a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/type/TransportSearchTypeAction.java b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/type/TransportSearchTypeAction.java
index 3463e02991c..c45ae9cae2f 100644
--- a/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/type/TransportSearchTypeAction.java
+++ b/modules/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/type/TransportSearchTypeAction.java
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 import org.elasticsearch.util.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.util.trove.ExtTIntArrayList;
 
+import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
@@ -110,6 +111,11 @@ public abstract class TransportSearchTypeAction extends BaseAction<SearchRequest
             shardsIts = indicesService.searchShards(clusterState, request.indices(), request.queryHint());
             expectedSuccessfulOps = shardsIts.size();
             expectedTotalOps = shardsIts.totalSizeActive();
+
+            if (expectedSuccessfulOps == 0) {
+                // not search shards to search on...
+                throw new SearchPhaseExecutionException("initial", "No indices / shards to search on, requested indices are " + Arrays.toString(request.indices()), buildShardFailures());
+            }
         }
 
         public void start() {
diff --git a/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/document/DocumentActionsTests.java b/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/document/DocumentActionsTests.java
index b94d1e8f0ca..5001bf17ac6 100644
--- a/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/document/DocumentActionsTests.java
+++ b/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/document/DocumentActionsTests.java
@@ -59,6 +59,16 @@ public class DocumentActionsTests extends AbstractNodesTests {
         startNode("server2");
         client1 = getClient1();
         client2 = getClient2();
+
+        // no indices, check that simple operations fail
+        try {
+            client1.prepareCount("test").setQuery(termQuery("_type", "type1")).setOperationThreading(BroadcastOperationThreading.NO_THREADS).execute().actionGet();
+            assert false : "should fail";
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            // all is well
+        }
+        client1.prepareCount().setQuery(termQuery("_type", "type1")).setOperationThreading(BroadcastOperationThreading.NO_THREADS).execute().actionGet();
+
         createIndex();
     }
 
diff --git a/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/indicesboost/SimpleIndicesBoostSearchTests.java b/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/indicesboost/SimpleIndicesBoostSearchTests.java
index 7e0b99c18a0..afa51e5f9ea 100644
--- a/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/indicesboost/SimpleIndicesBoostSearchTests.java
+++ b/modules/test/integration/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/test/integration/search/indicesboost/SimpleIndicesBoostSearchTests.java
@@ -58,6 +58,21 @@ public class SimpleIndicesBoostSearchTests extends AbstractNodesTests {
 
     @Test
     public void testIndicesBoost() throws Exception {
+        // execute a search before we create an index
+        try {
+            client.prepareSearch().setQuery(termQuery("test", "value")).execute().actionGet();
+            assert false : "should fail";
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            // ignore, no indices
+        }
+
+        try {
+            client.prepareSearch("test").setQuery(termQuery("test", "value")).execute().actionGet();
+            assert false : "should fail";
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            // ignore, no indices
+        }
+
         client.admin().indices().create(createIndexRequest("test1")).actionGet();
         client.admin().indices().create(createIndexRequest("test2")).actionGet();
         client.index(indexRequest("test1").type("type1").id("1")